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THE 



D 



rOREST IREE TLANTERS 



MANUAL, 



"EMBODYING SUCH INSTRUCTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR 

TREE PLANTING AND CULTIVATION AS EXPERIENCE 

AND OBSERVATION HAVE DEMONSTRATED TO 

BE USEFUL AND RELIABLE "— Ftc/e J?esoZ«- 

tion of Ex. Committee. 



SEOOD^TID EJDiTioasr OF e,ooo. 



/ 4 



\y 



By LEONARD B. HODGES. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Minnesota State Forestry Associaton. 



ST. PAUL, MINN.: 
H. M. SMYTH & CO., BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 

1880. 



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PREFACE. 



HE object of this work is concisely stated on the title page. 
It will be practical, and will embody such practical suggestions 
and experiences in forest culture, as are known to be reliable. 
It is intended as an aid to all who are interested in forestry, and 
to all who are trying to redeem the ti-eeless regions and render 
them not only habitable, but desirable for permanent homes. 

No attempt will be made for originality, but all available sources 
of information will be invaded and plundered for the benefit of 
all who are trying to make homes on the great western prairies. 

L. B. H. 



Preparation of the Soil. 

INEXPERIENCE has demonstrated beyond cavil, that a proper and 
thorough preparation of the soil, is a prerequisite of success. Were 
I to fit up a ten acre piece of prairie for the planting of a tree 
claim under the provisions of the Congressional Timber Culture Act, 
this is about the way I should do it. 

I would break the prairie in June, from the 15th to 25th, if possible. 
I would break it about three inches deep, and do it well. No baulks or 
"cut and cover" should be tolerated. The sod should be all cut clear and 
all turned over; whether "kinked" or jointed down flat, makes no differ- 
ence, so you only break in the proper season and do it well. In the fol- 
lowing October you will find the sod tolerably well decomposed, and also 
an inch or so of soil beneath the sod. Then, either cross-plow or back- 
set, going from one to two inches deeper. The following spring this soil 
is in good condition for a crop. Any kind of a hoed crop is preferable to 
small grain, because to grow corn, potatoes, &c., profitably, requires 
thorough cultivation, and just this thorough cultivation which your hoed 
crop demands, is just the treatment the soil needs in fitting it up for tree 
planting. Another year of such cultivation before the trees, cuttings, or 
tree seed is planted, is advisable, if you have time. If not, go ahead 
with your planting. 

Under the provisions of the Timber Culture Act, as amended, you can 
grow two hoed crops as above, and plant your young forest trees, seeds 
or cuttings, in the fall, after harvesting the second hoed crop, or in the 
following spring. You can raise two crops of wheat, or other small 
grain, instead of the hoed crop, if you cho.ose, but in so doing you do not 
prepare the ground so thoroughly for forest culture, and you are pretty 
sure to sow more or less foul stuff with your small grain, which entails an 
endless amount of hard work in its extermination ; for it must be exter- 
minated promptly if you expect your young forest to prosper as it should. 
No weeds or foul stuff should be allowed to go to seed. 

Clean culture till the trees have so far grown and developed as to com- 
pletely shade the ground, is just what you must have to produce the 
most satisfactory results, after which the annual falling of the foliage 
mulches the ground and renders further cultivation superfluous. 

The foregoing remarks are intended to apply to the common average 
undulating or rolling prairie. There is, however, a very large amount of 
very smooth and level prairie in western Minnesota, especially in the val- 
ley of the Bed River, where the treatment should be somewhat different. 
Much of this land is covered with a short, thin growth of the mean- 
est sort of slough grass. The sod is tough, very tough ; in fact, tough is 



6 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

no name for it. Unless broken in the proper season, it might as well 
not be broken at all. If you break it too early, the grass grows up 
through it much more luxuriantly than ever before. If you hreak it a 
little too late it bakes down like an adobe brick, and requires time, frost, 
air and moisture to slack it. There is no particular use in trying to raise 
any kind of a crop on such land the next year after breaking. My own 
experience in the treatment of this sort of prairie, is to break the last of 
June and first of July. Let it lay for about a year, and then either back- 
set or cross-plow, bringing up as much fresh dirt as you can. In fact, I 
would summer fallow it the next season after breaking, and I think the 
second season after breaking the sod I would sow it to wheat. By this 
time the ameliorating influences of sun, air, frost, moisture and summer 
fallow, will have so far operated on the obtuse and refractory nature of 
the soil as to have changed to a great extent its naturally sour, cold, dis- 
agreeable character, and put in condition to begin to repay the labor 
heretofore bestowed upon it. 

There are latent virtues in such land well worth developing. Once 
brought out, and you will be amply repaid for the extra time and labor 
it has cost. Most any kind of good manure is a sovereign panacea for 
this sort of prairie ; not because the ground is lacking in fertility, for it is 
not, but because the manure acts as an alterative, neutralizing the sour- 
ness of the soil. This sort of land, once thoroughly conquered, will prove 
of inexhaustible fertility, and, I feel confident, would then produce a 
thrifty growth of Black and Gray Ash, Basswood, Red, White and Rock 
Elm, Hackberry, Cottonwood, Box Elder, White Willow, Tamarac, Soft 
Maple, Ironwood, Wild Plum, Cherry, Crab Apple, and probably other 
varieties of timber, and will prove to be admirably adapted to wheat, 
oats, barley, all vegetables, and timothy, blue-joint and red-top grasses. 

MANNER OF PLANTING. 

The Timber Culture Act, as now amended, allows great latitude in this 
direction; but the fact that the doctrine of thick planting is ofiicially en- 
dorsed and required, must not be lost sight of. Your trees when planted 
must average not more than four feet apart each way. This requires 
some twenty-seven hundred and thirty trees to be planted on each and 
every one of the ten acres. 

The two primary objects, shelter and fuel, are constantly to be kept in 
view. Those once secured, the aesthetic and ornamental naturally claim 
proper attention. No vegetable grows more luxuriantly, with proper 
care and cultivation, than the Scotch Pine. No tree, unless we except 
the pioneer tree, the Cottonwood, is better adapted to the greater por- 
tion of our treeless region. A double row of Scotch or White Pine — 
rows eight or ten feet apart — breaking joints in planting, trees eight to 
ten feet apart in the rows, will, in five or six years from planting, form a 
timber belt and shelter so close as scarcely to admit the flight of a bird 
through its dense foliage of living green. 

And I can truthfully say about the same thing of our own native White 
Pine ; -while from year to year, far beyond the limits of an ordinary hu- 
man life, they continue to grow, increasing in size and in value, monu- 
ments of arboreal beauty. But unfortunately, like too large a proportion 
of the good things of earth, their high price places them beyond the reach 
of the great majority of poor men who wander over our great prairies in 
search of tree claims and of homes ; and as I am writing this as much in 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. ' 7 

the interest of the poor man as of any other class, we must talk about 
something within his reach — something sure to grow, something cheap, 
rapid in growth, absolutely hardy, something that will "git up and git." 
The Cottonwood will do all this, and so will the White Willow. The 
fellows who are too poor to grow them successfully, have no business on 
the prairies. 

PROPER DISTRIBUTION OF THE 27,300 TREES WE MUST PLANT 
ON THE TEN ACRES. 

There is once in a while a fellow who will plant it all in one grove 
forty rods square, and put his house, barns, stables, stock yards, right in 
the middle of it. Others will plant a timber-belt live rods wide along 
the north and west lines of the quarter section, while others will plant a 
strip two and a half rods clear around the whole quarter section. Where 
the quarter section is tolerably uniform in surface and soil, either way has 
its merits and advantages. Should, as is often the case, the quarter sec- 
tion be cut up more or less with ponds, lakes, marshes or running streams, 
then the plan should conform to the topography. It also happens that a 
quarter section, every other way desirable, has at least ten acres of 
sandy or gravelly knolls. In such case, plant them by all means with the 
varieties suitable for such localities, and in a few years you will transform 
them into the most valuable portion of your quarter section. 

CLOSE PLANTING. 

I had supposed the reasons for close planting had been so fully set 
forth, and the advantages so apparent to every thinking man, that 
nothing would be necessary to say on this subject in this work. Yet, 
scarcely a day passes, when I am not called upon for the reasons. Not 
wishing to cumber these pages with any surplusage on any branch of for- 
estry, and yet, in deference to many whose views on many subjects I en- 
tertain great respect, I hereby present the reasons that incline me to fa- 
vor close planting in starting a young forest. 

In the study of forestry, nature is our greatest and best qualified teacher. 
To the close observer, the pages of her great book are spread wide open 
through the primeval forest, over the wide spreading prairies — every, 
where — covered with characters so legible, that the way -faring man, 
though a fool, need not err. I have now in mind a young forest in Min- 
nesota, that I regard a model. Twenty-five years ago I passed over the 
ground on which this young forest now stands. It was then what we 
would term " grub prairie," thickly studded with Jack-oak grubs from 
six to twelve inches high. There were patches of Hazel among them. 
There were occasionally, feeble scattering specimens of Aspen. Curious 
to know of the development that might occur if this piece of ground had 
a fair show, I protected it for years from the fires that had for ages an- 
nually swept over it. Soon the grubs began to send up strong, straight, 
thrifty leaders. The Aspen came along the next season with great vigor. 
In a year or two more, Butternut trees began to appear, (probably 
planted by the provident squirrel, who must have carried them more than 
a mile, as no bearing trees were then standing any nearer.) Soon the 
Bass wood put in a strong delegation. For the first ten years that patch 
of ground grew into a perfect thicket, so dense as to be nearly impene- 
trable. Shading the ground from the rays of the sun ; holding the mois- 



8 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

ture from too rapid evaporation, the annual shedding of the foliage, 
mulching the ground and answering all the purposes of thorough cultiva- 
tion ; this dense mass constantly shooting upward toward the sky. Then 
began the demonstration of the doctrine of the " survival of the fittest." 
At that period, there could not have been less than ten thousand young 
trees to the acre. Gradually, the more vigorous began to assert their su- 
premacy. Gradually, the feeble, the dwarfs and pigmies began to disap- 
pear, and at the close of the second decade, the underbrush had nearly 
disappeared, and a noble grove of Oak, Basswood, Butternut, Aspen, &c., 
good for twenty cords per acre, stood, where twenty years previous noth- 
ing but .Jack-oak grubs, Hazel-bush and grass covered the ground. To 
emphasize the lesson, nature is repeating the lesson so taught in a thou- 
sand localities in Minnesota, always with equal and uniform success, 
wherever her young plantations are protected from fire and cattle. And 
yet, with all this overwhelming testimony, conclusive, in proof of the 
great value of close forest planting, educated men, college graduates, au- 
thors, editors, &c., quite frequently evince a disposition to lock horns 
with me on this subject. Ye blind guides and fools, throw away your 
musty books, and your still mustier notions, and get out into the thickets 
and brush and tall timber, and stay there twenty years, and you will learn 
something. And now I have my hand in, I will call in other testimony on 
this point, and so far as I am concerned, close this discussion, and quib an- 
swering letters from fellows who think they can grow a forest by planting 
trees twelve feet apart on the unbroken prairie. 

Prof. E. Gale, of the Kansas Agricultural College, Manhattan, says : 

"The value of close planting can be realized much better after the very sad ex- 
perience of 1874. There are several points that may be urged for close planting. 
The force of these observations will be much better appreciated when we have 
carefully examined the facts which can be adduced by experience. Trees should 
be planted closely. 

1. For the mutual protection of the trees. 

2. For economy in culture. 

3. For immediate protection. 

4. For the purpose of securing available timber. 

5. For the purpose of securing early returns from our planting." 

Again. In speaking of that clause in the timber culture act of 1873-4, 
permitting trees to be planted twelve feet apart, he says : 

"Trees thus planted will not serve the purpose of a forest, but virtually become 
an open orchard." — Correct. 

Dr. Franklin B. Hough, in his very valuable report on forestry, referring 
to this point, says : 

"Opinions very generally agree as to error in the clause allowing a space of 
twelve feet between trees at hrst planting. In fact, this open spacing appears to 
be in opposition to sound principles in sylvaculture, and is to be regretted, because 
on the prairies, and on the great western plains, where planting is most needed, 
the drying winds that prevail at certain seasons cannot well be endured by trees, 
unless so closely set as to shelter one another from the earliest period. Such plan- 
tations would, of course, require trimming from time to time, as the trees became 
larger and reqtiired more room." 

Horace Greeley says : 

"Plant thickly, and of diverse kinds, so as to cover the ground promptly and 
choke out weeds and shrubs, with full purpose to thin and prune as circumstances 
may dictate." 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 9 

Judge C. E. Whiting, of Monona county, Iowa, remarked in 1869, that 
he had at first planted Cottonwood eiii,ht feet apart each way, giving each 
tree 64 feet of ground. They grew well, but too many branches in pro- 
portion to the amount of body wood. He had adopted the rule of plant- 
ing three feet each way, giving nine square feet to a tree, and in this order 
they grew tall and straight, soon shaded the ground, and in three years 
needed no further cultivation than thinning as became necessary, by remov- 
ing alternate rows and drawing out the poles with one horse and chain. 

In the Forestry Annual of the Iowa Horticultural Society, Judge Whit- 
ing, one of the committee charged with the preparation of the Annual, 
from his own experience, (perhaps the most extensive of any person in the 
country, in this branch of forestry,) says : 

"I have in belts around my fields, varying from single to twenty rows of trees, 
mostly planted so close as to take 4,356 to the acre; (the amended timber culture 
act only calls for 2,730 per acre), about 40 acres of timber. The trees in these 
belts vary as to time of planting ; some are eighteen years old, and some only one 
year planted, the greater portion, however, are from five to twelve years of age. 
The needed thinning of these belts furnishes all the wood that is wanted on tlie 
farm, including stakes and rails to keep the fences in repair ; posts for all repairs 
needed, and many for new fences I annually build in extending my farm. There 
is not a stick of needed timber on the farm, from a pea-bush, a grape-vine stake, 
or a binding pole, up to a fair sized saw log, that cannot be had from my groves, 
without cutting a single tree that does not need thinning out from the groves." 

But why cumber the ground with further testimony? The foregoing is 
conclusive, unimpeachable and unanswerable in proof of close planting. 

I submit the case to the jury without further comment. 

The farm of Judge Whiting is on the line of railroad from St. Paul to 
Omaha. It consists of some 1,800 acres, and his closely planted young for- 
ests are the admiration of every one who has the good fortune to see them. 
They are an unanswerable argument in favor of close tree planting. 

VARIETIES OF TREES SUITABLE FOR YOUNG FORESTS, IN 

MINNESOTA— ALSO, FOR PLANTING ALONG 

THE HIGHWAYS. 

In the elucidation of this topic, I begin by inserting a paper I prepared 
for the State Horticultural Society, and read at its annual session in Roch- 
ester, January, 1878. 

PLANTING TREES FOR SHADE AND ORNAMENT ON STREETS AND ROADS — WHAT 
TREES TO PLANT, AND HOW TO PLANT THEM. 

The foregoing is the heading of the accompanying article. The text was 
furnished by Prof Lacy. I don't know what book he got it out of; neither 
do I care. 

There ought to be a good many sermons preached on that text to all the 
people of Minnesota. Right here in Rochester, it don't seem so necessary. 
The people here have appreciated the importance and necessity of this work, 
and have taken hold of it in earnest. The changed appearance of this town 
site, as between 1854, when I first camped on it, and now, 1878, is due more 
to tree planting than to any other one class of improvements. 

Great as has been the change in this immediate vicinity within so short a 
time, still greater changes have occurred in other localities. Villages and 
cities oi'iginally built on the open prairie, without a tree or shrub in sight, 
whose streets and avenues wei'e formerly raked fore and aft by the fierce 



lO FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

blasts of winter, and scorclied by the blazing suns of summer, have, by the 
intervention of the tree planter, been converted into bowers of beauty, pro- 
tected alike from furious wind and blazing sun. 

No investment of time and money is more satisfactory or more perma- 
nently useful, than that employed in planting forest trees along the lines of 
our public highways. In a prairie country like ours, no investment adds so 
much to the beauty of the country, or the ready cash value of the real estate 
BO adorned. The prosecution of this good work appeals alike to the best 
judgment and most cultivated taste. 

Much has been done in this direction, but far more remains yet to be 
done. We have done just enough to thoroughly demonstrate the practical 
nature of the work, the thorough adaptability of our prairie soil to develop 
magnificent specimens of forest trees. 

In the tree planting returns of 1877, the number of rods planted to treea 
and hedges along the public highways of Minnesota, is given as 265,633, 
equivalent to 642 miles and 192 rods. The returns are imperfect, incom- 
plete. One thousand miles would be much nearer the mark. This is a good 
beginning, but only a beginning. 

Have any of you figured on the probable number of miles of public high- 
way in the prairie portion of Minnesota? There are full five hundred pi'ai- 
rie townships in what is known as the treeless region of Minnesota. Then 
there are at least half as many more prairie townships in other comparatively 
well timbered counties, like Olmstead and Dodge. This rough estimate^ 
which I think is below the actual figures, gives us 750 townships of prairie. 
Allowing thirty-six miles of public highway to each township, gives us 27,000 
miles. This must be doubled to give us a row each side of the highway, 
making a total of not less than 54,000 miles yet to be planted along the 
highways of the prairie regions of Minnesota ; enough to reach twice around 
the globe and some four thousand miles to lap over. Who can correctly esti- 
mate the climatic effects and the ameliorating influences following so grand a 
work? I assume, as a matter of course, that in the treeless region, the 
planting would be close enough to form staunch and permanent wind breaks. 

The protection thus afforded to growing crops, would of itself be of inesti- ' 
mable value. The protection afforded to orchards and other fruit growing 
institutions, would alone amply repay the cost, while the comfort afforded to 
man and beast, would be beyond the power of figures to express. 

VARIETIES OF FOREST TREES BEST ABAPTED FOR THIS WORK. 

This is so largely a matter of taste that no list that could be made would 
suit every one. This task must conform to facts and to common sense. The 
adaptability of the soil to each variety of forest tree, must be recognized. 
The natural limits that have been assigned to each variety of forest tree, 
must be borne in mind, and then the peculiar service required in the particular 
locality tu be benefitted, and, finally, the pecuniary ability of the owner of 
the real estate must be taken into account. 

For merely shade, in my opinion, no tree can excel the White Elm ( Ulmus 
Americanus). As an ornamental shade tree it is absolutely unapproachable. 
It is undoubtedly the most " magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone." 
It is long-lived, hardy, and a rapid grower. But it needs room to spread it- 
self. Planted sixty feet apart, their tops will interlock long before reaching 
maturity. The White Elm will do well on any Minnesota prairie, from 
Iowa to Manitoba, but grows more rapidly on river bottoms and rich, moist 
soil. It seems to possess the advantage of withstanding the bad effects of 
dust and smoke, and would consequently be better adapted to planting in 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. II 

large towns than most other varieties of trees. In this connection, let 
me warn the fellows out on the broad prairies, not to plant too large White 
Elms. I have seen them transplanted from two to three or four inches in, 
diameter, trimmed to bare poles, tops cut off say twelve to fifteen feet from 
the ground, and in three years develop so much top that the wind would 
blow them over so far as to leave them standing at a very acute angle. They 
seem to develop top more rapidly than root. On the rich, moist, alluvial 
soil of the western covmties, plant small trees. 

SUGAR MAPLE, ROCK MAPLE — Acev Saccharinum. 

The Sugar Maple, as a shade and ornamental tree, cannot be too highly 
prized. It is indigenous to Minnesota, but is more particular about its loca- 
tion than the White Elm. In this state it prefers well drained localities. A 
locality in which the White Elm would flourish to perfection, would, in 
many instances, prove fatal to the Sugar Maple. I have had but poor suc- 
cess in planting them on level prairie, with deep clay subsoil. Such localities, 
should be underdrained for the Sugar Maple. I very much doubt if they 
can be made to live where the ground is saturated with moisture during th» 
growing season. On the second bench of the streams, and along the banka 
and sides of ravines, on any tolerably good soil, and on hill sides, the Sugar 
Maple flourishes and reaches its best proportions. Poor, sandy soils are not 
suited to the growth of the Sugar Maple, neither are most of the rich bottom 
lands of the Red River Yalley. 

BLACK WALNUT — Juglans Nigra. 

All things considered, I am strongly inclined to the belief, that the Black 
Walnut is the most valuable forest tree that can be grown in Minnesota. Its- 
growth is very rapid, and when fully developed, is one of the largest of our 
forest trees. It prefers a rich, moist soil, but will flourish and make a very satis- 
factory growth on any number one prairie, not too far north. The Minnesota 
valley seems to he the northern limits for this tree in that portion of Minne- 
sota west of the Mississippi river. I have never seen any Black Walnut to- 
amount to anything, north of the valley of the Minnesota river. They are a 
tender tree when young, and we occasionally get a winter in which they re- 
quire considerable protection. As a shade and ornamental tree, it sometimes 
rivals the White Elm. When planted as a shade tree, give it plenty of room^ 
that its natural habit of throwing out a low, broad top may be encouraged. 
Bryant tells of a Black Walnut tree at three feet from the ground, twenty- 
five feet in circumference. " At the height of twelve or fifteen feet, the- 
trunk divides into several branches, each of which by itself would constitute 
a large tree ; the whole forming an immense canopy, overshadowing an area 
one hundred and fifty feet in diameter. " 

BUTTERNUT — Juglans Cinerea. 

When grown in open ground, throws out a low, spreading top ; is a hardy^ 
rapid grower, and in all respects a desirable shade and ornamental tree. 
This tree and its first cousin, the Black Walnut, ought to be considered in the 
double character of not only forest but fruit trees. A Black Walnut orchard^ 
or a Butternut orchard, propagated from the seed planted on the right kind 
of soil, would soon throw in the shade any apple orchard in Minnesota ; would 
come into bearing as quick, would grow faster, stand more grief, and bring 
more bushels of either fruit or dollars, in the long run. I suggest, as a prac- 
tical measure, the offering of liberal premiums to encoui'age the planting of 
Black Walnut and Butternut orchards. 



12 FOREST TREE PLANTERS MANUAL. 

LINN, LINDEN, BASswooD — TiUa Americana. 

This is another very desirable shade tree. Rapid grower, hardy, long 
lived. Will grow and develop well on any good farming land, but pi-efers a 
rich, moist, cool soil. Furnishes good shade and shelter for man and beast, 
and also bountiful crops of flowers, from which the "little busy bee" manu- 
factures a most excellent article of honey. Basswood, suitable for trans- 
planting, is not easily found in large numbers in our native forests, and the 
main source of supply for shade trees must be from propagation in forest 
tree nurseries. 

WHITE ASH — Fraxinus Americana. 

One of our most valuable forest trees. Yery hardy. Rapid grower, and 
when planted wide apart, throws out a beautiful, wide spreading top. Most 
of the prairie soil of Minnesota is well adapted to the growth of the White 
Ash. 

This tree will do its best in a cool, deep, moist soil. It don't amount to 
much on a warm, dry, sandy soil ; is not afraid of cold weather ; deserves a 
higher rank in public estimation. For general planting on our northwest- 
ern prairies, no forest tree merits more general cultivation and attention. 
It is easily propagated from seed, and can be furnished by millions ; cheap 
as corn fodder. 

BLACK ASH — Fraxiuus Samhucifolia. 

For merely a shade and ornamental tree, perhaps preferable to White Ash; 
will grow best on ground too wet for White Ash ; will flourish and develop 
magnificently on ground too wet for most any other timber, except it may be 
Tamarac. 

COTTONWOOD — Popuhhs Angulata, or Popuhis Monilifera. 

The highly refined, fastidious and aristocratic element of our large towns 
and cities, unite in despising this noble tree. But who cares ? It has its 
own merits, merits that will cause it to be propagated, cherished, nourished 
and protected by willing hands and loving hearts, until the great interior 
treeless region of the North American continent shall have been reclaimed 
and become one of the traditions of the past. When the marble monuments 
vainly erected to perpetuate the memory of the names of its tiaducers, shall 
have crumbled into dust ; when even the State Horticultui-al Society has 
ceased to exist, even then will this monumental tree shed its blessings and 
its cotton alike upon the just and unjust. 

T propose to stand by the Cottonwood. Whether planted on a sand 
bank or a river bottom, in the door yard or in a desert, on the prairie or in 
the timber, the result is a great, sturdy, healthy forest tree. It is a success, 
and that's why people plant it. It don't fool away years of precious time 
getting ready to do something, but it is up and coming fi'om the word go. 
It is emphatically a pioneer tree. This and the White Willow will do more 
to prepare the way for the cultivation of fruit trees than any other agencies 
I can think of. 

I have enumerated enough of the deciduous trees. I could easily have 
extended the list to twice its length. But " Enough is as good as a feast." 

EVERGREENS. 

I shall not branch out much on evergreens ; had rather wait and hear from 
John Ke|)ner. I desire to say a good word for the Scotch Pine. T find it 
absolutely hardy, and a thrifty, good grower on the bi'oad prairies of Kandi- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 3 

yohi and Stevens counties ; have had them growing out for nearly four years. 
They always look bright and healthy. They are, undoubtedly, a good tree 
to plant by the roadside. It is the great lumber tree of Scandinavian 
nations of northern Europe. It delights in buffeting old Boreas; is admira- 
bly adapted for wind-breaks, and wi41 be used extensively for this purpose 
just as fast as the prairie farmer becomes able to pay for it, 

I have experimented with various sorts of evergreens on the prairies, and 
have had more comfort from the Scotch Pine than all others combined. 

The European Larch, about which volumes have been written, has so far 
proved hardy, healthy, and a rapid grower on the main line of the St. Paul 
<k Pacific railroad, where it has been planted as an experiment in dififerent 
localities and on widely varying soils. From experience so gained, I should 
not be afraid to go in tolerably heavy on the European Larch. 

HOW TO PLANT THEM. 

It is all surplusage trying to tell this crowd how to plant trees. You 
know as much about it as I do ; but it may be this paper may fall into 
hands not so experienced as yours. And so I commence by saying, the first 
thing to do is to prepare the ground. In commencing de novo on the prairie, 
I should first bi-eak the sod in June. I should let it sweat till October. I 
would then back-set it, bringing up two or three inches of new ground. (I 
am supposing you are preparing to plant along the highway the whole length 
of your farm.) In the spring I would plant it to potatoes. I prefer pota- 
toes for this purpose, because the ground gets worked over more in growing 
this crop than any other you would be likely to plant. After digging the 
potatoes in September, I would then plough the ground as deep as I possibly 
could ; the deeper the better. And then I would harrow thoroughly. I 
would have all the holes dug before I took up a tree, and I would dig big 
holes, not very deep, but a good ways across ; deep enough so as you can 
throw in dirt, good mellow black soil, forming a little mound in the bottom 
of the hole to set the tree on. Then while an assistant holds the tree in an 
upright position, manipulate the fine, soft, mellow earth all among the 
roots, spreading them out full length, so they nestle and lay comfortable like 
and natural. If any of the roots are bruised and mangled, trim them off 
smoothly with a sharp knife, and also cut out all dead roots. 

Too much care cannot be exercised in transplanting forest trees. In caking 
them up get all the root you can, especially small fibrous roots. Don't 
allow the roots to be exposed to sun or wind. Don't let them freeze while 
out of the ground. Plan your work so as to have the least possible niimber 
of hours intervene from the time the tree is lifted from its native spot till it 
is in the ground again. Should unavoidable delays occur, heel them in, or 
better still, bury them. all over in loose earth, taking them out as you plant 
them. After getting the roots comfortably arranged, shovel the fine, black, 
mellow soil in, pressing it firmly. You don't want to tramp it. 

I think most good sized trees, especially the Cottonwood, do better planted 
somewhat deeper than they originally stood. 

Don't drown your trees with water. Many people heave in several buck- 
ets of water in each hole. This is unnecessary. Your tree don't want to 
stand in a mortar bed. More trees are killed by too much water than by too 
little. If possible, mulch thoroughly as soon as planted. Mulch with any 
good manure. Chip manure is best. Old hay or straw is good. 

If the ground is reasonably moist when the planting is done, good, 
thorough mulching will protect the tree from drought far more effectually 
than indiscriminate bucketfuls of cold water. Cold water is a good thing in 
its place, but needs to be used with some judgment. 



14 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

Don't mutilate your trees. This trimming up to bare poles and then cufc- 
iing the top off may be necessary in very exposed localities, as too much top 
resists the wind to such an extent as to loosen the hold of the roots to the 
«oil. This won't do. In such localities plant small trees. A tree no larger 
than a rawhide riding-whip, with its full complement of fibrous roots, will 
soon get away from such trees as are usually planted along highways ; 
provuled, always, you plant it in ground which has been thoroughly prepared, 
and then give it the same care, protection and cultivation you do your corn 
when you get fifty bushels per acre. If I was in a hurry, and couldn't wait, 
and must have big trees at once, I would take up root enough so there would 
be no necessity of catting off the top ; only trimming the top into symmetry. 
It would be, perhaps, necessary to steady and brace it against the wind until 
well rooted. How to do this your own ingenuity should suggest. 

AFTEK CARE. 

In planting a line of shade trees along a public highway, I should aim to 
dedicate a strip of ground at least one I'od wide to this purpose. I should 
plough that strip and harrow it at least twice each year, between May and 
August, keeping down all weeds and grass. Every year I should work the 
mulching when well decayed, into the ground, replacing it from year to year, 
until the tree is firmly established and able to help itself to food and drink. 
Bear in mind that a young tree needs cai-e, protection, food and water, as 
much as a young steer, and the better treatment either gets, the better it 
grows and prospers. The mulching and cultivation is to the tree what corn 
hay and water is t:) the steer. 

I cannot too strongly condemn the infamous and brutal treatment given to 
trees by men who ought to know and to do better. The man who handles 
trees in transplanting, as he would fence rails or posts, deserves to lose them, 
:and generally does. To illustrate: last spring I saw a large box of orna- 
mental trees, mostly evergreens, on the platform at Willmar. After lying there 
ex])0sed to wind and sun several days, I saw them opened. The moss and 
other mulch they were packed in had prevented the roots from drying, and 
had they at once been properly planted, could have been saved. It seemed a 
whole neighborhood had clubbed together, and each one's package was bound 
up separately. These packages were taken from the box and laid on the 
platform, where for several days they were exposed to drying winds and 
scorching sun. They were all killed within twelve hours ; but those fellows 
would come every day or two and carry off a bundle and plant them, all the 
same ; and you can't make one of them believe that a nurseryman is any bet- 
ter than a horse thief. 

We must preach to the people that a tree, if not exactly animal, is, at 
least, a living, breathing oi-ganisra, as susceptible to good or bad treatment as 
anybody ; as quick to appreciate good treatment as you or I, and as quick 
to resent bad treatment. In fact, there are few classes of living beings who 
tolerate less bad treatment than trees. 

WHEN TO PLANT SPRING OR FALL. 

This is a question often asked. I do not consider it of as much importance 
:as n)any do. It is not half as important as a thorough preparation of the 
8oil, mulching and thorough cultivation. With most forest trees it really 
makes but little difference. For several years I have planted largely, com- 
mencing in the fall as soon as the leaves fall ; planting until winter comes, 
ieeling in or burying what is left, and in the spring commencing again and 
.planting right along till 20th of May, or until the leaves start. Some sea- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 5 

;Sons there is no perceptible difference between spring and fall planting of 
most varieties of trees. Should it set in very dry, as it sometimes does early 
in spring, and continue dry for several weeks, your spring planting will suffer 
to a certain extent, limited, however, by the amount of mulching and cultiva- 
tion the trees receive during the season of trial. Should there be a reasona- 
ble supply of moisture during the spring and early summer, no appreciable 
difference would be likely to be observed. Large sized trees, whether 
planted in the fall or in the spring, will quite frequently go through the first 
season making a good, healthy, vigorous growth, and if June and July of the 
next season is unusually hot and dry, succumb to the withering influences of 
the season. This, however, is largely prevented by mulching or cultivation. 

Small forest trees, one, two and three years old, usually, and so far as my 
experience goes, have always escaped this pei-il. I have sometimes thought 
the transplanting of large forest trees from the forest to the open prairie, 
more hazardous in the fall than in the spring. 

Sometimes facts prove it to be so, and then again facts prove it not to 
be so. 

The fact is, you can't most always tell. 

With a thorough preparation of the soil, and prompt, clean culture, your 
trees, if pi'operly handled and planted, will, as a rule, outlive the fellow that 
plants them. 

There are many other varieties of forest trees not enumerated in the fore- 
going paper, which deserve notice as eminently worth cultivating on the 
" Tree Claim." There are others well worth trying, some of which, although 
thus far having nearly failed, will yet, under more favorable conditions and 
with more skillful culture, become acclimated and accustomed to their new 
iiomes, and ultimately add largely to the value and attractions of the prairie 
regions. . 

NOTES ON THE BIG WOODS. 

BY N. H. WINCHELL. 

The following valuable paper, from the pen of Prof. N. H. Winchell, which I 
extract from "Transactions of Minnesota State Horticultural Society, 1875," 
^ives a good idea of the varieties of forest timber indigenous to the soil and 
climate of Minnesota : 

"The Big Woods" of Minnesota, consist of a southward spur from the forest- 
covered poition of the State, covering a strip about forty-five miles wide in the cen- 
tre of the State, and reaching nearly to the Iowa State line. By this spur the pmi- 
ries of tlie State, at least, those in the southern part, are divided into two parls, the 
greater of which lies on the west of the Big Woods. The great material advantiige 
the farmers of Minnesota occupying the prairies have over tliose who, in other 
States, are much further removed from timber, is easily seen, while others, who pre- 
fer timbered land to prairie, liave the choice of thousands of acres yet unoccupied 
in the region of the Big Woods. The boundary of this southern prolongation of 
the northern timber is not well marked, the trees gradually becoming thinner and 
smaller, and more and more restricted to the valleys of streams, till the country is 
changed to a treeless prairie. Around the outskirts of the woods, small oaks and 
aspen3 constitute almost the only arboreal vegetation; but, within the woods, a 
great variety of hardy, deciduous trees are found, mingled witli the usual spi cies of 
shrubby vegetation. The general surface is much more rolling than in the prairie 
region, on the east or west, and the soil seems to be coarser, with more frequent 
boulders. Yet there are, also, extensive flat tracts in the Big Woods, that are aa 
level as any prairie region. 

In general, the Big Woods may be thus bounded : Beginning a few miles west 
of Minneapolis, the eastern edge of the Big Woods crosses the Minnesota, in a line 
toward Lakeville, in Dakota county. Continuing in a southerly direction, it passes 



l6 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

about a mile east of Cannon City, and of Owatonna, when it takes a short bend to 
the west and northwest, passing about four miles north of Waseca, and near East 
Janesville, in Waseca county. In Blue Earth county, it is variously modified by the 
valleys that are tributary to Minnesota from the south. Continuing west, about 
six miles south of South Bend, it turns north and crosses the Minnesota, sending 
oul a spur northwestward, which follows, indefinitely, the Minnesota valley. Run- 
ning along the west side of the Minnesota, distant from it about four miles, it begins 
to bear ofl: toward the northwest, at St. Peter, and passes five miles west of Hender- 
son. Between Ailington and New Auburn, in Sibley county, the timber line is on 
the east of the direct line. Near the former village, about four miles north, are 
eonie large patches of timber, containing large oaks on the west of the main road, 
and the line seems to swell several miles to the west, but at Arlington, the timber 
is entirely on the east of the town. Between New Auburn and Glencoe, the tim- 
ber line runs about a mile east of the main road, and about three miles east of 
Glencoe. It is found again, at four miles north of Glencoe. Thence, it continues 
west and northwest, to Darwin, on the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. North of that, 
its exact location has not been traced. It seems to run still northwestwardly, and to 
include the region of small lakes, in Pope, Douglass and Otter Tail counties, and 
the region known as the Leaf Mountains, in the wooded portion. North of the St. 
Paul & Pacific railroad, the Big Woods widen out rapidly, both to the east and 
west, merging into the general forest of the northern part of the State. The term 
is strictly, and originally, only applicable to the spur that includes the Lower Min- 
nesota valley, extending nearly to the Iowa line. The writer has crossed the spur 
in a number of directions. In passing from Farmington, in Dakota county, to 
Shakopee, in Scott county, the following species of trees and shrubs were seen. 
For ten or twelve miles after entering the woods, very few large trees were seen, 
the oak shrubs being the largest, and almost the only tree-like vegetation. About 
half way to the Minnesota river, the maple and large elms, bass and iron-wood 
appear. 

TREES AND SHRUi^S OF THE BIG WOODS. 

Oak shrubs. Apparently Quercus ilidfolia. Wang. 
■ Hazelnut. Coryhts rostrata. Ait. (?) 
Burr Oak. Quercus macrocarpa. Michx. 
White Oak. Quercus alba. L. 
Wild Red Cherry. Prunus Pennsyhanica. L. 
Trembling Aspen. Populus tremuloides. Michx. 
Choke Cherry. Prunus Virginiana. L. 
.Wild Plum. Prunus Americana. Marshall. 
White Ash. Fraxinus Americana. L. 
Thorn. Crataegus. 
Rose. Rosa blanda. Ait. 

June Berry. Amelanchier Canadensis. Var. Botryapium. Torr. and Gray. 
Round-leaved Cornel. C'ormis circinata. L'Her. 
Common Elder. Sambucus Canadensis. L. 
American Crab-apple. Pyrus coronaria. L. 
[The young twigs and the under surface of the leaves are very woolly pubes- 
cent.] 

Black Cherry. Prunus serotina. Ehr. 

Frost Grape. Viiis cordifolia. Michx. 

American Elm. Ulmus Americana. L. (Pi. Clayt.) Willd. 

High-bush Cranberry. Viburnum opulus. L. 

Two or three species of Willow. Salix. 

Green Ash. Fraxinus Vividis. Michx. f. 

Prickly Ash. Zanthoxylum Americanum. Mill. 

Cockspur Thorn. Crataegus Crus-galli. L. 

Red Raspberrj'. Eubus strigosus. Michx. 

Black Curiant. liibes Jloridum . L. 

Cottonwood. Populus monilifera. Ait. 

Large-toothed Aspen. Populus grandidentata. Michx 

Bass. Tilia Americana. L. 

Red Mulberry. Morus rubra. L 

Ironwood. Ostrya Virginica. Willd. 

Sugar Maple. Acer Saccharinum. Wang. 

Sott Maple. Acerrubrum. L. 

Alternate-leaved Cornel. Cornus alternifoUa. L. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. l/ 

Bitternut. Carya amara. Nutt. 
[Rare, east of Spring Lake.] 

Butternut. Juglins cinerea. L. 
(Very rare, except at Spring Lake and westward.] 

Slippery Elm. tflmusfulva. Michx. 

Staghorn Sumac. Eus typJiina. L. 

Tamarac. Larix Americana. Michx. 

Box Elder. Negundo aceroides. Moench. 

Wolfberry. Symphoricarpus occidentalis. R. Br. 

Panicled Cornel. Cornus puniculata. L'Her. 
[The most common species of Cornel.] 

Between Shakopee and Mankato, the following additional species were seen in the 
valley of the Minnesota : 

Kentucky Coffee Tree. Gymnocladus Canadensis. Lam. 

Red Cedar. Janiperus Yirginiana. L. 

Black Walnut. Juglans nigra. L. 

Hackberry. Celtis occidentalis. L. 

Blue Beech. Garpinus Americana. Michx. 

Yellow or Gray Birch. Betida lutea Michx. f. 

[This birch has oblong catkins, and spreading obtuse lobes on the scales, the 
latter being three lines long. The hickory grows to about six inches in diameter, 
and then is invariably winter-killed. A large tract has lately been cut for fuel, 
near St. Peter. The hackberry is used for fuel, and for furniture. It frequents the 
heaviest timber. The butternut is rarely large. The box-elder sometimes exceeds 
three feet in diameter. In the absence of the sugar maple, its sap is used in the Upper 
Minnesota valley, by the Sioux Indians, for making sugar and syrup, of which it is 
said to furnish a very tine quality.] 

In traveling through the Big Woods, in 1874, the white birch, (Betula alba var- 
populifolia spacTi,) was noted in Hennepin and Carver counties The bittersweet, 
{Celastrus scandens, L.) is, Silso, abundant in the Big Woods. There is a species of 
oak that appears like red oiik, (Quercvs rubra, L.),tha.t frequents the outskirts of 
the Big Woods. It is sometimes associated with the burr oak, in the "openings," 
and sometimes is found in company with the trembling aspen. It makes a smaller 
tree, generally, than the burr oak. l^esides these, the Virginia creeper, (Ampelop- 
sis quinquefolia. Michx.) and the blackberry, [Rubus villosus, Ait.), have been seen. 
At Jordan, in the valley of the Minnesota, the black raspberry was noted, {Eubus 
occidentalis, L ) The white pine grows near Minneapolis, {Pinus strobus, L.) and in 
Mower county ; it is found along the rocky banks of the streams in Mower county. 
The black ash, (Fraxinns sambucifoUa , Lam.), has also been observed in the Big 
Woods ; but it seems not to be common. The red-berried elder, (Sambucus pubens, 
Michx), has been seen at Minneapolis; also, the sweet YihwYnnm, [Viburnum 
Lentago, L.), and the strawberry bush, (Euonymus Americanus, L.) Two species of 
spircea, the ninebark, (Spircea opulifolia, L.) and the common meadow sweet spircea 
salicifoUa, L. were noted at St. Peter. 

Although, according to the foregoing boundary of the southern end of the Big 
Woeds, they extend, en masse, only to about the center of Blue Earth county, the 
area of continuous timber is extended considerably further south, through the 
agency of the valleys of the Blue Earth, the Cobb, and the Maple rivers, — tributa- 
ries of the Minnesota, that run northward from the water-shed, that lies along the 
southern State boundary line. Consequently, there is more than the usual amount 
of timber, for prairie lands, in Faribault and Freeborn counties. In those counties, 
as the suppression of the j^rairie fires is rendered more complete, by the forming of 
the soil, the scattering shrubs of oak, and the aspens, that are avaiint couriers of en- 
croaching forests, bring on more and more the character and aspect of a wooded 
country. Other species then gradually venture out from the sheltered valleys, and 
flourish on the open tracts. It is in some of these more southerly spurs from the 
main body of the Big Woods, that the shag-bark hickory [Oarya alba., Nut.) some- 
times appears. 

The existence of this great spur of timber, shooting so far south from the bound- 
ary line, separating the southern prairies from the northern forests, and its success- 
ful resistance against the fires that formerly must have raged annually on bpth sides, 
is a phenomenon in the natural history of the State that challenges the scrutiny of 
all observers. While it holds mines of wealth, open to the practical economist, it 
2 



l8 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

affords to the scientist a rich field for observation and study. With timber, comes 
the fauna that is peculiar, in our latitude, to timbered regions. Tlie fauna is 
strikingly dilierent from that of the prairies. The hear, the wolf, the dear, a great 
number of forest warblers, the numberless winged insects, tliat would otherwise 
be restricted to the northern half of Minnesota, are, by this spur of timber, brought 
into a much more southern latitude. The deer, at present, roams over the whole 
of this tract, fnjm north 1o south. It furnishes shelter for thousands of birds that 
winter among us, but which, otherwise, would become exterminated, or driven 
from the Slate. It has, also, its climatic eifect, and its sanitary influence. It is 
en)inently a region of small lakes. What may l)e the cause underlying, that has 
wroughtthis wonderful diversity in the heart of our great State, is a subject for 
legitimate investigation, but the limits of this pnper do not permit me to enter on 
that. It is only possible here to give a few notes, and to call attention to some of 
the salient points. That this tract is destined to be one of untold benefit to the 
State, cannot be questioned. It is as yet but sparsely inhabited, and the details of 
its natural history are uulinown. 

The following have been noticed by Mr. L. M. Ford : Two varieties of the wild 
gooseheiry, {Cleinaiis Virginiann,) a well known climber, blooming in August ; 
the Dutchman's pipe, {Arestolochia si/pho,) another climber ; one variety of the hon- 
eysuckle, {Lomcera;) the leather wood, (Dlrca palnstris,) a dwarf sort of thorn,, 
heavily laden with fruit in autumn, proiiably Crataegus coccinea, and near Minneap- 
olis, the trailing juniper, {Juniperus prostrata.) 

The first report of the commissioner of statistics, of Minnesota, (1860)^ 
gives the following account of the natural distribution of its timber. 

*'The Great Coniferoiis District — The elevated and broken region, north of latitude 
46°, and east of the meridian of the outlet of Red Lake, rnny be described in general 
ievm& -^5 ^ forest country ; these lint'S, in general, being the southern and western 
limits of the pine, and other conifeise, in Minnesota, and including an area of 
21,0(10 square miles. Pine is the prevailing wood of this district, but intermingled 
with a Considerable proportion of birch, maple, aspen, asli and elm. The alluvial 
bottoms of the extreme northern liranches of the Mississippi, support a heav}'- growth 
of basswood, elm, aspen, butternut, ash, birch, hard and soft maples, linden, bal- 
som-fir, and some o:dis. It is observed, that whenever the cone-be iring woods are 
burned off in this district, the hard woods take their place. The sugar-maple,, 
which, according to Blodgett, marks the range of Indian corn, extends northward 
nearly to liainy Lake, where it yields abundance of sugar to the Indians. In the Ked 
River valley, the sugar-mai>le is found all along its trough, and finds its northern 
limit beyond the 49th parallel, on the elevated southern water-shed of Lake Win- 
nipeg. On the rivers flowing into Lake Superior, hemlock, cedar, spruce, fir and 
birch prevail. 

21ie Zone of Pine — The principal pine forests of Minnesota, which constitute one 
of the main resources of industry and wealth, stretch in a broad belt near the south- 
ern border of the great northern forest disliict, from the eastern side of Pine county, 
in the Upper Saint Croix valley, northwestward across the water-shed to the outlet 
of Red Lake. The principal pineries where lumber is bought, are upon the head- 
waters of Kettle, Snake, Rum, Crow-Wing, and the Upper Mississippi, and recently 
upon the extreme upper waters of the Red or Otter Tail rivers. 

Belt of Oak Openings.— Be]ow latitude 46°, the pine, hemlock, spruce, birch and 
all ilie C'onifcrce generally disai)pear with the forest-line. A nairow range of cedar 
and tamarack swamps, between Saint Croix and Crow Wing rivers, and some pine, 
mingled with large maple, oak, ash, and small birch and spruce, intervene for half 
a d(gree further, when the o.ik becomes the prevailing tree on the uplands, dis- 
tributed in groves and large parks, its growth usually dwarfed by the anniial ravages 
of prairie fires. These oak openings characterize the whole delta of rolling prairie, 
below latitude 45° on the east side of tlie .Mississippi. The soft maple, eim, ash, 
willow and alder, line the bottoms of the Rum and Elk rivers. 

. The Boia Franc, or Big TFoflrfs.— West of the Mississippi, the western flank of 
the great coniferous forest of the noiih, extending with a thick border of hardwood 
west of Otter Tail river, and around Otter Tail lake, terminates up m the valley of 
the Crow Wing, where it merges its characteristics in a new forest growth of the 
deciduous forms, which stretches in a broad angular belt across the great prairies- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 19 

of the southeast and south, and generally known as the Big Woods. This belt 
wood forms a deep fringe, of from ten to twenty miles in width, along the western 
slope of the Mississippi, from the Crow Wing valley to the Sauk, at Siiint Cloud. 
Crossing into the valley of the Crow river, and keeping a general south-easterly 
course, it occupies a large strip of country between the Mississippi and Minnesota 
rivers, nearly one hundred miles on its longest side, with an avernge breadth of 
forty miies; its western limit being formed by a line crossing the counlies of McLeod 
and Meeker, diagonally, througli the middle, and its eastern, by a line drawn from 
near the mouth of Rum i-iver to C.irver, on the Minnesota. Throwing its left 
flank across the Minnesota, at Louisville, its main body crosses the river between 
Belle Plain and Le Sueur, and covers nearly the whole of Le Sueur county, with its 
right wing extending south-westward to Blue Earth river, in Blue Earth county, 
and its left occupying about one-half of Rice and Scott counties. The area of the 
tract of country covered by the Big Woods, is about 5,000 square miles, of which 
4,000 is occupied by the division north of the Minnesota, and 1,000 by its southern 
division. The woodland district is full of lakes, and in some sections, the dense 
mass of forest is broken by small prairies. The varieties of timber in this district 
are mainly oak, maple, elm, ash, basswood, black walnut and hickory. 

Southern Belt of Valley Woods and Oak Openings. — Besides the tract above de- 
scribed, there are no large forests in Minnesota, west of the Mississippi. But nearly 
all the streams have narrow fringes of woodlands, and some of the valleys east are 
dense masses of timber. The wide Isottoms of Minnesota and Mississippi have a 
deep border of thick and massive woods, in which the large Cottonwood and maple 
are conspicuous, with white and black walnut, butternut, linden, box- wood and hick- 
ory. The Zumbro valley, Wabashaw and Dodge counties, support some large tracts of 
forest growth. The Root river also affords a consideralile body of thick woods on 
the borders of Fillmore and Olmstead counties, in which all ihe varieties of the 
Big Woods are reproduced. But the oak openings and groves which are .«iCHttered 
througli the uplands along the streams form a large resource of the prairie popula- 
tion for domestic and mechanical purposes. 

The Sparcely Wooded District. — The Upper Valley of the Minnesota and Red 
River sustains no forest growth, except upon the trough of the main and tributary 
streams and the margins of the lakes. The minor streams of the Upper Mississippi 
are, however, poorly timbered, a few scattering trees only marking their course over 
the naked plain. 

On the Red River a narrow fringe of thick woods of the hard varieties, commences at 
Graham's Point and continues to Pembina, while all the streams on the east and 
west sides afford narrow strips of timber, generally from iifteen to twenty-five miles 
apart, while the intermediate plains above latitude 46°, are dotted with clumps of 
poplars, willows and other aspenoids. 

The foregoing extracts seem to be necessary and valuable in this connec- 
tion, in order to exhibit at? a glance the natural home of the different forest 
trees of Minnesota. 

I give it simply as my own experience in forest-growing on the prairies, 
that it pays to conform to the natural habits of the trees ; that is, 1 would 
plant the Biack Walnut, Black Ash, Basswood, Elm, &c., in a deep, moist, 
rich soil, instead of on high, dry, poorish soil. And I would plant the Pines, 
White Ash, Larch, &c., on lighter, dryer soils. I would carry this idea into 
practice in the planting of a tree-claim ; giving each particular variety, as 
near as possible, the same sort of soil, location, &c.j as where the finest 
growths are found in the native forests. 

We will now give some attention to the individual character of forest 
trees, from Dr. Hough's report, pp. 556 to 666. I find much valuable 
information, which he credits to the Iowa State Horticultural Society. 

This society, in 1872, began to offer premiums to encourage tree-planting, 
and it has for the past four years printed annually, for gratuitous distribu- 
tion among planters, a pamphlet* containing instiuctions ibr procuring, 

*Foreatry Annual of the Iowa Horticultural Societij. Pour numbers of this have been published, be- 
gianingiu 1874. The pamphlet for 1877 embraces 24 pages. 



20 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

storing and planting of seeds, cuttings and plants, with hints on best species 
and varieties, modes of culture, &c., for artificial forests and shelter-belts in 
that State. 

The importance of this subject has been also frequently discussed for 
many years, as well in the public journals as by speakers at agricultural and 
horticultural fairs, so that it may be truly said of Iowa, that no State in 
the Union has so generally been awakened to the importance of tree-plant- 
ing. In fact, the great prairies needed no argument to prove the desira- 
bility of planting, as well for fences and fuel as for shelter and ornament. 
Some of the practical suggestions of the Annual, which appear to be of 
more general interest, are here given : 

SHELTER-BELTS. 

These are wind-breaks for the shelter of domestic animals and crops, and 
their advantages are set forth by Judge C. E. Whiting^ one of the com- 
mittee charged with the preparation of the Annual, from his own experi- 
ence, as follows : 

"I have in belts around my fields, varying from single to twenty rows of trees, 
mostly planted 4,356 to the acre, about 40 acres of timber. The trees in these 
belts vary as to time of planting ; some are eighteen j-ears old, and some only one 
year planted, the greater portion, however, are from five to twelve years of age. 
The needed thinning of these belts furnishes all the wood that is wanted on the 
farm, including stakes and rails to keep the fences in repair; posts for all repairs 
needed, and many for new fences I annually build in extending my farm. When 
my walnuts get a little larger, I will have all I need, and many for sale. There 
is not a stick of needed timber on the farm, from a pea-bush, a grape-vine stake, 
or a binding pole, up to a fair sized saw log, that cannot be had from my groves, 
without cutting a single tree that does not need thinning out from the groves." 

" About five miles of my timber belts are so planted that I have commenced using 
the standing trees for fence -posts. Where a tight fence is not needed, with the use 
of the barbed wire, and a little change in the staple, the use of these live posts is a 
perfect success. Strongly and urgently as I have heretofore advocated the planting 
of thick belts of timber around our fields, each year but confirms me in the opin- 
ions then expressed. The land that remains will, year after year, produce larger 
and more certain crops than the whole field would produce without such protection. 
I also repeat, that, in spite of all the learned discussions and scientific theorizing 
in regard to the cause of our timberless prairies, our cultivated forest trees, year 
after year, grow right along, with immense rapidity, in blissful ignorance of all the 
reasons why iJiey should not grow.'''' 

The species of trees used in shelter-belts, either on the farm boundaries to the 
north and west ; or, to the north and west of dwelling, barns, orchard, garden, &c., 
will depend greatly on the position of the homestead, as to soil and location in the 
State The settler, absolutely without tree-shelter, wishes, naturally, to reach 
results as quickly as possible. Fortunately the willow, the cottonwood, the silver 
poplar, and the box-elder, all very easy to propagate, as noted in speaking of 
varieties, are all wonderfully rapid in growth under good cultivation ; and, abovej 
all, are perfectly hardy, even in the northwestern part of the State. Taking al 
things into consideration, it is best to put these rampant growers on the outside of 
belts, adding from year to year the varieties, like elm, ash, black cherry, honey 
locust, the evergreens, &c., as time and meads permit, inside of the iron-clad van- 
guards placed on the outside. The rapid-growing soft woods, starting readily 
from cuttings, are the most available for urgent present needs, and the novice in 
tree-planting is more certain of success with them in his first efforts, than with 
rooted plants of the slower-growing, but more valuable timbers. Besides cuttings 
cost nothing usually, and are readily obtainable. We append notes on managing 
cuttings in this connection, as these trees are most frequently used in shelter-belt 
plantations. 

How to Prepare Cuttings. — Very early in winter, before severe freezing, cut in 
lengths of about a foot. If the limbs to cut are plenty, choose them from three- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 21 

fourths to one and a half inches in diameter. Cut them at the lower end with a 
clean cut, sloping at acute angle, to facilitate pressing in the earth when planting. 
If sharpened on all sides, as is frequently done, roots are emitted less freely from 
the lower end. Tie in bundles with willows, with the lower ends nicely evened, 
so that when placed on the ground in the spring, every cutting will touch the 
moist earth. Pack the cuttings in a dry goods box, with moist prairie soil, putting 
the box where it will not get too dry or wet, and will not freeze. With the first 
warm weather of spring, clean off a spot under an old straw-stack, level the sur- 
face carefully, and set the bundles butt end down closely together upon the fresh, 
moist earth; then cover them over with straw, so as to keep them from the air. 
By the time the ground gets warm enough to plant, the base of the cuttings will 
bo softened and calloused, and most of them will have emitted small roots. 

Mark out your ground one way three feet h,part. Plant the cuttings about a foot 
apart in the rows, at an angle of forty-five degrees, using a clean, narrow spade, 
and press the earth down firmly with the foot. Cuttings should be put down about 
the whole length. When they start, allow only one sprout to grow. Cultivate 
carefully. The following spring it can be seen how the plants stand in the rows. 
If the cuttings are prepared, kept and set right, near] vail will grow, :-ind the surplus 
plants can be taken up and set in other ground. Allow the plants to stand about 
three feet apart. If many have failed, transplant, so they will set right. As a rule, 
it is not best to transplant. A tree six years old, and never transplanted, is usually 
much the largest. 

We may here remark, that in addition to the willows, the white and yellow Cot- 
tonwood, lombardy poplar, large aspen, silver poplar and balm of Gilead, may all 
be propagated in this way, as noted in speaking of varieties. The instructions for 
managing cuttings will, however, not be repeated. 

*We may here, also, note that the red maple, white maple, ash -leaved maple and 
basswood, may be propagated readily from two-year old wood, put out in the fall. 
Cover lightly over the rows, before cold weather, with straw or prairie hay. Rake 
this off as the plants start in the spring. 

Evergreens for Shelier-Mts. — In eastern Iowa, nearly all of the hardy evergreens 
may be grown successfully, and form, beyond all doubt, the most perfect shelter- 
belts that can be planted. But, in the central and western portion of the State, 
north of the forty-second parallel, evergreens, even of the hardiest type, need 
shelter; yet this is no reason wliy they should be ignored in the perfecting of 
shelter-belts. For reasons before noted, the rapid-growing soft woods are best for 
outside planting, and are just what is needed to give requisite exemption from 
wind-sweep to belts of pines or spruces planted under their lee. 

For the portions of the State most in need of shelter-belts, the Scotch pine is, 
beyond all doubt, the best evergreen for this use in the whole list. We can fully 
indorse the statement of Prof. C. S. Sargent, who says : 

"The rapidity of its growth in all situations, and its economic value, make the 
Scotch pine the most valuable tree farmers can plant for screens and wind-breaks 
about their fields and buildings, and for this purpose it is recommended, in place of 
the more generally planted Norway spruce, which, tliough of rapid growth in its 
young state, does not promise, in our climate, at least, to fulfill the hopes which 
were formed in regard to it." 

This pine is specially partial to free circulation of air, growing quite feebly in 
crowded positions ; hence, it will not do to plant it as closely as white pine, al- 
though, as with other trees, it is best to plant, with a view of thinning out when 
the poles are of size to be of practical use. We may here remark, that the poles of 
Scotch and white pine, cut in summer and stripped of bai'k, are very strong and 
durable, when nailed on posts for fencing. 

The white pine will succeed vastly better with outside shelter on the west and 
north exposures, and will attain height fully as fast as the Scotch pine. Plant in 
rows eight feet apart, with plants four feet apart. The trees thus crowded will at- 
tain height rapidly, and when the poles attain size for nailing on fence-posts, they 
will be straight, and nearly uniform in size from end to end. 

The Norway or white spruce, coming next, may be planted the same as Scotch 
pine. The white spruce is, perhaps, the most compact and beautiful, but the Nor- 
way is the most rapid in growth, and is the most plentiful in the nurseries. 

Evergreens, twelve to eighteen inches, of all the sorts here named, maybe ob- 



* While this is possible, do not rely too much on it.— Ed. 



22 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

tained of leading nurserymen, who make seedlings a specialty, at very low rates. 
Taking into account the" first cost of plant, the loss from sliipping, dying out, &c., 
the chances for success, with the ordinary farmer, are too doubtful, except on a 
smnll scale*, for the shelter of home buildings, where the addition to the landscape 
view, summer and winter, will well repay the cost of purchase and after care, say- 
ing nothing of their perfect effectiveness in arresting wind and storm. The decid- 
uous trees, such as we specify as valuable for farm uses, are good enough for shel- 
ter-belts, and Ihe annual thinnings are far more valuable for varied uses. Our main 
idea, under the heading of shelter-belts, is to recommend strongly the planting of 
all forest trees as shelter belts, rather than in the form of isolated squares, as is too 
common. Plant any of the kinds named in the succeeding list, but plant in the 
order suggested, as manv trees do famously well, planted east or south of a heavy 
belt of hardier trees, which would utterly fail in open exposure to wind-sweeps. 

PLANTATIONS FOR FUEL, FARM USES, AND MANUFACTURING PUR- 
POSES. 

To economize space, we place the varieties of trees best suited for these varied 
purposes under one heading, making comments as to relative value for specific pur- 
poses and management of each timber tree separately. 

GuEEN Asii [Frnxinus viridis. )—Vor fuel, and for all the manifold uses for which 
light, firm, elastic, and durable timber is wanted, as well as handsome, light-col- 
ored fini.shine lumber, the white and green ash are our most valuable trees, and 
their greatest value is attained when grown on deep, rich soil. The white ash, (F. 
Ainericann), in our dry atmosphere, and sometimes very dry soil, makes compara- 
tively slow growth, while green ash, on soils favorable for our best corn crops, will, 
in ten years, be as large as the ash-leaved maple [Necjundo aceroides) of same age. 
For all uses, its timber is very similar to white ash, with which it is confounded by 
most of our citizens. It grows in many parts of Iowa, while the white ash is not 
common. The seeds ripen in October, and soon fall after frost. A good way to 
keep them, is to place them on the surface of a garden walk, putting a box over 
them, and cutting a trench around the box to keep water from running under tliem. 
They will not grow if kept too dry. With most people, it will be best to purchase 
the plants of nurserymen, or to cultivate the first year in a seed-bed. Usually, 
about one-fifth of the seed grows. Transplant where they are to grow at one year 
old. It is. however, better for the trees to plant the seed where the trees are to 
grow, say six or eight seeds in a hill. They will then retain their tap-root and 
grow with more vigor, but will require more hoeing. 

How to Plant. — After deep plowing and thorough harrowing, mark the ground, 
as for corn. If seeds are planted, cover shallow, not more than an inch. If trans- 
planting, press a clean, bright spade about two-thirds its length perpendicularl}'^ at 
each intersection of the marks, then draw the handle back, so as to move the bot- 
tom of the spade three or four inches forward, then press in the spade the balance 
of its length, and push the handle forward, which will leave an ample hole to re- 
ceive the roots; after the spade is withdrawn tramp the ground firmly on the roots, 
and leave the plant standing perpendicular. 

HoNET-LocusT [GleditscMa trincanthos) . — It is thought by many to be the best to 
select the seed for timber-growing purposes from thornless trees ; yet it often hap- 
pens that nearly all the plants from seeds gathered from very thorny trees, will 
prove thornless, if kept thriftly growing. On account of rapidity of growth and 
value of timber for fuel, posts, furniture, &c., we regard this native tree as being 
very valuable. In some of the interior counties remote from the river bottoms, 
where this tree is found native, the idea seems common that this tree, like the com- 
mon black locust, is subject to attacks of the borer, and is also liable to sprout, &c. 
For the benefit of this quite numerous class, it may be well to state, that honey lo- 
cust — or more properly, three-thorned acacia — is nearly allied to the Kentucky cof- 
fee-lree botanically, and that the borer has not been known to attack it; nor does it 
sprout to greater extent than the maple and most other forest trees. 

The seed ripens in autumn, and may be gathered any time during the fall or 
winter. But the sooner pods are gathered after falling to the ground the better. 
In Cedar county, on Cedar river, and at many points on the Iowa, Des Moines, Mis- 

*This remark, .Hltliough applicable to Western Iowa, does not apply with equal force to Central 
and Northern Minnesota, where evergreen wind-breaks have so far proved successful.— Ed. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS MANUAL, 23 

80uri, and, indeed, most of the rivers of the State, pods may be gathered in quantity 
grown on thornless trees. 

Before planting, scald the seeds severely. Part of them will swell. Sift these 
out with a coarse fanning-mill sieve. Scald the remainder again; repeatedly scald- 
ing and sifting, until all are swelled. The ground should be ready, and the seeds 
at once planted. They will coine up in two or three days if the weather be favor- 
able, and their upright growth is so rapid, that less care is needed in picking out 
weeds from among the plants, than with any otiier forest-tree seedlings. Keep the 
weeds down carefully with good cnliure during the summer. Take up the plants 
in the fall and heel in carefully where water will not stand. If left standing in 
seed-bed, the plants are often injured during the winter. After the first year, the 
plants are porfeclly hardy, if seed from our native trees be used. We may here 
note that the seed sold in the eastern markets is mostly imported. The plants pro- 
duced from the foreign honey- locust seed prove as tender in our climate as the 
peach tree. No valuable tree; in our list bears transplanting with as little check to 
growth, as the hone3'-locust. Put out the plants with a spade, as recommended for 
the ash.* 

Black Cherry (Cerasus seroUna) —The great value of this tree for posts, fuel, 
manufacturing, &c., has been too much overlooked. Plantations in this State, and 
in Illinois, demonstrate it to be one of our most desirable trees for cultivation, at- 
taining a size in twelve j^ears about equal to scarlet maple, with same care. When 
planted thickly, say in rows four feet apart, and eighteen inches apart in row, the 
poles run up tali and straight. The trees taken out in thinning can be utilized for 
poles to nail on posts for fence. Cut in summer, when they will dry quickly, they 
will last many years. When used for posts, if thoroughly dried, the writer has 
found them to last as long as the best burr-oak. He has posts yet sound that have 
been set fifteen years, and made from trees only ten to twelve inches in diameter. 
The seed may be gathered in most of our groves and thickets. Wash off the pulp, 
dry the surface of the pits in the sun, then pack in pure sand in small boxes or nail 
kegs. If kept in cellar, where they will not get too dry, they will grow; or they 
may be buried where they may be severely frozen In the latter case, they will be 
found to germinate ver^^' early in spring, and must be sown before much started. 
Plant and manage same as ash. If planted where wanted, all the better, as trans- 
planting sadly retards growth. 

European Larch {Larix Europo&a.)- -In Europe, this is regarded as their most 
valuable forest tree for artificial groves. It; is especially grown forrailroid ties, 
posts, vine stakes, fencing, fuel, and about all the economic uses of the farm, and 
■even in the shipyard, whole ships having been constructed of larch timber. It is, 
in our country, one of the most rapid growers we have, under proper treatment. 
But we may suggest that a careless manager had better select some other tree. The 
sudications'are that it will not prove as desirable here as in Europe, perhaps mainly 
on account of too rapid growth on rich soils. On their clay soils it produces a bet- 
ter grade of timber. 

Purchase plants that have been once transplanted. Be sure to secure the plants 
very early in the spring. The leaves start very early, and the plants should be in 
the' ground before this occurs. If much started, they can hardly be saved in the 
open'air, unless the weather be very favorable. Remember that it will not bear ex- 
posure of root, any more than the evergreens. In planting keep the roots in mud 
and water under no circumstances allowing them to get even partially dry. Plant 
the same as ash and honey-locust. 

For the first year or two after transplanting, they will be found to make very 
moderate growth. After that they climb up rapidly. The ash and locust will need 
thorough culture but two years. The larch will not shade the ground as early, and 
will need four years of careful culture We will add, if plants of two years' 
growth be purchased, that have not been transplanted from the seed-bed, do not 
think of setting in the open field. Plant quite closely in bed, and give partial 
shade for one or two ye.irs. It pays to grow larch, but the idea must be kept con- 
stantly in mind that when young it is very delicate and tender under our dry air 
and hot sun, and must be handled in all respects like young evergreens, with the 
.additional care that it must be transplanted very early in spring. 

Black and White Walnut (Juglans nigra and J. cinerea)—1\\ese are well known 
and valuable trees, especially the black walnut. They do not transplant without 

*Tbe Hpney Locust .is not quite hardy enough ia Minnesota to justify extensive planting.— Ed, 



24 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MAls'UAL. 

^reat check of growth, and the nuts, therefore, should be planted where wanted 
for belt or grove. 

Judge C. E Whiting, of this committee, who has had more experience in grow- 
ing this timber than any man, probably, in the west, reports as follows : 

" If I were to plant a section of timber for an investment for my children, I would 
have it all black walnut— a tree will grow to sawing size sooner than pine, and 
even now in our markets it is quoted at three times the price of pine. It is very 
durable, if put in the ground dry, for posts. Fifteen years ago I planted cedar and 
walnut posts at the same time, and also posts of white oak. All are now decayed 
about equally. Always plant the walnut where you want it. Will transplant well, 
but loses, in" losing its tap-root, years of growth. Seven bushels of walnuts, with 
the shucks on, will plant an acre. During the winter I put in trenches, not too 
thick, and cover with leaves." 

Plant before sprouting if possible. Mark the ground out as for ash, and plant 
the nuts early and deep so that they will not dry. 

Yellow Cottonwood (Populus monilifera). — The opinion is common in central 
and eastern Iowa, that cottouwood is only valuabtle on the prairies for wind breaks, 
as the wood has little value for fuel or for any uses of the farm or workshop. The 
variety, if it be merely a variety, abundant on the Missouri, and also found spar- 
ingly on the Des Moines, Iowa, Cedar, &c., in central and eastern Iowa, known as 
yellow Cottonwood, really has an economic value, aside from its value for shelter 
belts, that should be better understood by our prairie settlers. Bryant says of this 
variety : "Its heart-wood is of a yellowish color, not unlike that of the tulip tree. 
It grows in the same situation as others of its kind, and is split without difficulty 
into rails. Shingles have been manufactured from it which lasted a considerable 
time. When sawed into lumber it does not warp like the Cottonwood generally, 
If Populus angulata and P. moidlifera are really distinct, it is a matter of uncer- 
tainty to which this variety belongs. The subject should be investigated." Judge 
C. E. Whiting has grown this tree extensively for a number of years on the Mis- 
souri bottom,"in Monona county, and has expressed his views as follows : 

"We have in the Missouri bottom both the white and yellow Cottonwood. In 
speaking of the cottonwood as a valuable timber, I speak alone of the yellow. I 
have fence-boards of this yellow cottonwood upon my farm that have been in use 
fifteen years, and they are yet good. My house is sided with cottonwood ; has been 
built ten years, and looks as well as any pine siding in the country, and stays to its 
place as well. It is really better as fencing than pine, being tougher and stronger. 
It stays to its place as well and is equally durable. I need hardly sajMt has no 
rival in rapidity of growth, as it far outstrips the willow. Along the bars of the 
Missouri are millions of seedlings. They grow up upon these bottoms over a great 
extent like prairie grass. There are enough of them to plant groves over every 
prairie in the State. I went ten miles from home, and in one day took up 13,000, 
eighteen to thirty inches in height, for my own setting. With ground ready a good 
hand can set from 2,<>00 to 3,00u per day. The fall is the best time to get seedlings 
from the Missouri bottom, on account of the high water in the spring. I set cot- 
tonwood posts from old trees in the bottom in the spring of 1860. I moved this 
fence last fall, and nine-tenths of them are yet good. The yellow cottonwood, 
split up green and put under a dry shed to dry, is good enough for my folks to use 
for fuel. 

"Of my tirst planting of cottonwood twelve years ago, the best of them now 
measure sixteen inches in diameter. We would make plantations very thick. I 
now plant 4,356 trees to the acre. This shoves them up straight and symmetrical. 
In this way we get the dead sure thing on the side-branch business. Cottonwood 
can be readily grown from seeds Being upon the river bottom in June, I noticed 
the cottonwood trees Avere loaded with seed ; had one cut down and loaded the 
wagon with branches with the seed attached. I furrowed some ground quite deeply 
with plow ; strewed the limbs in the rows, and my success in growing many thou- 
eands of seedlings was most perfect." 

In the interior sections, where seedlings cannot readily be obtained from the 
river bottoms, the j'ellow cottonwood may be grown from cuttings about as readily 
as the willow. The evident advantage would also ensue of propagating the right 
variety. On the Missouri bottom the seedlings of the common cottonwood are, of 
course, intermixed with the more valuable variety. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 2$ 

Catapalta {Oatapalia bignonoides) . — Experience has demonstrated thlfi tree to 
have a special value for extended planting. Although naturally a tree indigenous 
farther south, it seems to have a peculiar tendency to adapt itself to northern 
limits. A variety now grown quite extensively in central Iowa seems as hardy as 
any of our native trees. The writer has trees now five years set, large enough for 
small posts for wire fences, which have had open exposure north of 42d parallel, 
during the past severe winters. In Cedar county are to be seen many trees which 
have been out from ten to fifteen years, which show its habit of rapid growth to 
continue after it attains considerable size. In its native forests it attains consider- 
able size, growing from 50 to SO feet in height, with a diameter of from 18 to 25 
inches. Its flowers are very showy, and its odd cylindrical pods attract much 
attention. It is very durable for posts. Posts are yet sound in Illinois which have 
been set, it is claimed, fort)^ years. The plants are very easy to grow from seeds, 
which may be kept dry until time for sowing. But in all cases secure seed grown 
on northern trees. In Cedar county, and near Muscatine, the seeds are quite abun- 
dant. The trees flower and bear seeds abundantly when quite young. 

White and Scotch Pines {Pinus strohus and P. Syhestris). — These have Tieen 
referred to in this report as very desirable for shelter-belts. Our people have been 
slow to plant them for timber trees, as their most evident use as such is for sawed 
lumber. Admitting this as their special use, several considerations should induce 
their extended planting. 

First — Their rapidity of growth. Very many reported cases of growth on the 
prairies of white pine, in partially sheltered localities, confirm ths statements of 
relative growths made by D. C. Scofield, of Elgin, 111. His plants were set when 
from 6 to 12 inches in. height, and after twelve years' growth he reports European 
larch 30 feet high and S to 12 inches in diameter ; and white pine 35 feet in height 
and 6 to 12 inches through. The writer has white pine trees twelve to thirteen 
years planted, 14 inches in diameter and over 30 feet in height. 

Second— The poles thinned out as before stated are valuable for fencing. 

Third — An evergreen plantation breaks up the monotony of prairie scenery, and 
adds in this way a moneyed value to our real estate in case it is ofEered for sale. 

Plants of white pine can be bought from dealers who collect them in the pineries, 
as low as two to three dollars per thousand, in quantity. Such plants should be 
set in beds for two years, and screened by light brush-covered shed. They may 
then be set where wanted. Pine and larch maybe grown advantageously intermin- 
gled in the same plantation. As before noted, the Scotch pine may be judiciously 
planted as a protection to white pine or larch plantations on west or north sides. 
Evergreen plants can be procured of parties in Illinois, who grow them from seed 
and send them out once transplanted at low rates. Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, 
111., whose long experience in prairie-tree growing gives a practical value to his 
opinions, advises the extended planting of white and Scotch pines intermixed with 
the larch. He says : 

"Most European planters prefer mixing pines with larches, as this adds to the 
appearance of the plantation and gives a choice in thinning. We would advise 
planting a few rows of the admixture on the margin of the plantation, at least, and 
in all cases where the plantations are placed along the outer boundaries of the farm,, 
we would advise a free admixture of evergreen.'' 

As evergreen plants are usually shipped from a distance, the instructions of Mr. 
Douglas in regard to handling and setting are appended : 

"When the trees are received from nurseries the boxes should be immediately 
unpacked, and the roots dipped in a puddle made of rich, mellow soil, about the 
thickness of paint. Place them in a cool shaded place till ready to plant, and while 
planting expose the roots as little as possible. If not ready to plant for a few days, 
keep the roots moist and tops dry. Set the trees a little deeper than they stood in the 
nursery, and tread the earth firmly about the roots when planting — this is very essen- 
tial — drawing a little loose earth up to the trres to prevent the surface from baking." 

Red Elm* ( TJlmusfulva). — This tree has not received the attention it merits from 
tree planters ou our prairies. It is peculiarly a tree adapted to dry climates, no bet- 
ter proof of which could be found than the fact that it fails to ripen seeds in the 
humid air of England and France. Its special claims to attention for extended plant- 
ing may be briefly summed up as follows : 

♦Sometimes known as the Slippery Elm. 



26 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

.(1) It is beyond all question hardy, even in the most exposed position on our 
prairies. 

(2) It grows on rich soil with great rapidity. The writer has trees grown from 
seed in six years-larger than box-elder [Negfundo aceroides) of the same age, and 
receiving the same treatment. 

(;5) I'he seeds are easy to gather in nearly every portion of the State, and require 
no more skill in handling and planting than the soft maple. 

(4) No tree in our whole list seems so free from disease and injury from insects, 
"Worms, &c. 

(5) No tree, not even the larch, has so large a proportion of red or heart- wood 
when young. Even in the branches of young trees only one or two inches in diam- 
eter, the perfect wood forms the principal part. 

(G) Grown thickly in artificial groves, it runs up straight and tall, and when the 
poles are large enough to split for two rails they divide as freely and easily as young 
chestnuts, and the rails are about as durable, even when laid up in worm-fence. 
Nailed on to posts they will last fully as long as white oak. 

(7) When the poles are only large enough for a grape-vine stake, or a small post 
for wire fence, if cut in summer, peeled and dried before setting, they will last 
longer than burr oak, set green, from old trees. 

(8) It is a historical tree of our country, and associated with every memory of the 
early days, without regard to position, as it seems the one ubiquitous tree, nearly 
everywhere present in the native forests of our country. It is among the first in 
the spring to exhil)it its blossoms and hue of cherry green, and in the autumn, 
with the advent of the early frosts, it presents a display of shaded leaves, running from 
lightest violet and the deepest crimson, to all ahades of orange and yellow. Other 
things being equal, even beauty has moneyed as weil as aesthetic value in the 
arrangement of the landscape view in tree planting. 

This special commendatioji of the red elm may be received with some doubt by 
those who have given the matter little attention. The idea is not intended to be 
conveyed that exclusive plantations be made of any one tree. But example and 
habit "have too much influence in guiding tree planting. The soft maple, for 
instance, has become over our State the popular tree for generel planting. _ Let us 
suppose the red elm has become equally popular. It grows as rapidly, it is far 
hardier, it is freer from insect ravages, it is worth far more for fuel, it is excellent 
for rails and even posts, its lumber is valuable for stable floors, bridge planks, wagon 
hubs, and many other uses, the trees require Utile if any care in the way of pruning, 
&c. If it could supplant the maple the gain would soon be very apparent. 

The seeds of the elm ripen in Ma3', usually before the trees come into full leaf. 
The seeds are light, and being surrounded by a membranous wing, they are widely 
scattered by the wind. Sow at once on gathering, and by all means sow where 
wanted, if possible. They may be planted in corn-hills to excellent advantage. 
They usually grow about one foot in height the first season. Planting with corn is 
an advantage, as the plants are sometimes injured when very j'oung by direct ex- 
posure to our dry air and hot sun of July and August. The plants transplant readily, 
but if you want rapid growth never break the first tap root. 

Corky 'Ehu {Ulmus racemosa). — This tree in habit of growth is much like the 
vihhe elm (Ulnn/s Americana) hut its wood is far more valuable. This elm is so 
often confounded with the white elm, and is so usually mixed with it in its native 
haunts, that the masses might fail to get the unmixed seeds. The corky elm will 
be likel}^ to grow as rapidl^^ as the red elm, but its wood having less value for man- 
ifold uses than the latter, its extended culture cannot as yet be advised. For orna- 
ment and for shelter, however, we may sa}' the white elm in all its northern varieties 
is not surpassed. Michaux was right when he said that the white elm was "the 
most magnificent vegetable of the temperate zone." Isolated trees for shade or 
landscape effect, or anj- of the white elm varieties, are not excelled. The American 
elms, as grown from seed, all run into varieties puzzling the botanist. 

Sii.ver-Leaf Maple {Acer dasycarpum). — This variety, and also the red maple 
{Acer rubum), are well known plantation trees in every neighborliond in the west. 
It is economy of time, and a great increase of growth is attained by planting where 
wanted as recommended for the ash. But seedlings may be transplanted readily if 
plants are readily obtainable. 

While it is unfortunate for the timber-growing interests of the State that the soft 
maples of late have been so exclusively planted, we are not willing to advise the 
lotal neglect of these trees. Failure often ensues by neglect to gather seeds at just 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 2^ 

the proper time. When the wild crab-apples are in full blossom, the seed is usually 
just right. Before planting it is best to soak the seeds in water until just ready to 
sprout. Then place in moist earth. 

Black Maple {Acer nigrum). —'V'h\^ is usually called sugar maple, but its growth 
is very much more rapid under culture than the Amr saccharinuni. For fuel and 
sugar-making it is specially worthy of culture. For five or six j^ears after planting 
its growth is rather slow. After this it compares favorably with our other valuable 
trees in this list. Seeds ripen i;i the full. Pack in sand not too moist, or turn down 
on walk, and treat as ash seeds, which is generally best. Plant where waated if 
possible, as growth is much impeded by transplanting. 

Ash- Leaved Maple [Negundo aceroides) *— This tree is one of the easiest of all to 
propagate, and for great amount of fuel in a short lime it has no superior In 
Illinois it is being planted for sugai'-making. Its wood in the older States, and in 
Europe, is used in cabinet work. Gather seeds in fall ; keep under box as with ash, 
and sow where wanted. Under any kind of culture where a cottonwood will grow, 
this tree will flourish equally well or better. 

Hackberky [Celtis occidentalis) .—Our native variety of hackberry grows very rap- 
idly under culture, and has a special value for making flat hoops for apple and flour 
barrels. It splits very freely, and if cut in summer, and the bark peeled, the rails 
when nailed on posts last manyl^years. For fuel it is about like soft maple. The 
fruit is about the size of peas, and is usually abundant on our river bottoms. Wash 
the sweet pulp from the seeds and mix with sand for early spring sowing. 

Red Mulberry {Mortis rubra).— This is a very handsome ornamental tree, grow- 
ing very rapidly during the first years after planting, and soon attaining size suita- 
ble for grape vine or other stakes, and even for posts. The timber is strong, com- 
pact, and very durable. If dried before set in the soil, it is questionable whether 
we have any "timber, doing well in lich soils, as durable for posts or stakes as this. 
A drawback to its culture is the scarcity of seed, the birds geneially getting the fruit 
as fast as "ripe. Wash the pulp fiom seed and mix with sand for early spring sowing, 
either in seed-beds or where wanted. Plant the mulberry where sheltered from the 
west and northwest by belts of trees like elm or cottonwood that will better stand 
the nike of our dry, cold winds. It also does best on porous, deep soils, as long con- 
tinuous drought seriously injures and even kills the trees on soils with the blue clay 
too near the surface. 

Yellow Birch {Bettdu excelsa) .—This tree thrives exceedingly well on deep, rich, 
and moderately moist soils, with porous subsoil. It makes excellent fuel, and is 
valuable for many manufacturing purposes where a strong, fine-grained, handsome 
wood is desirable. It is only recommended for variety. It grows readily when 
transplanted ; and the lover of trees will alwaj'S be pleased to have it in a general 
collection. The seedlings are not so easy to grow in our dry air as those of most 
forest trees, and the seed, of which there is an abundance in the market, is usually 
not in a condition to grow. The plants may be bought in any quantity in the pinery 
regions, at low rates. 

Large Aspen {Populus grandidendata) .—Vnhke the common aspen, this tree rap- 
idly attains, under cultivation, considerable size. The wood has no great value for 
fuel, yet it has a special value for farm uses that should not be overlooked. 

(1) It grows when planted, closely, very straight, and the poles— cut in summer 
and peeled — flattened on one side, make very strong and stiif rafters for sheds, and 
leven barns. When large enough for hewing-sticks, it is fully equal to white pine 
for frames of barns. 

(2) No timber in our list will attain, under good culture, size sufiicient for two 
•rails as soon, that is equally strong and durable, if cut in summer and peeled. In 
lengths of eight or nine feet nailed on good posts, they keep in place better than 
<iak, and will last fully fifteen years. 

All things considered, it is best to grow this tree from cuttings ; j^et, where seed 
can be procured, the plants grow with as much certainty as the cottonwood or ma- 
ple. 

We may add that a plat of the aspen on the open prairies is ever an object of 

*By Bome botanists called Acor negundo. 



28 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

interest in contrast with other trees. The leaves tremble in the lightest breeze 
when the foliage of other trees is motionless. 

White Poplar {Populus alba).— Tins, tree is usually voted a nuisance as a shade 
on account of its wonderful tendency for suckering ; but this tendency to sucker 
would be no objection in forest culture. The size which this tree will reach in 
prairie in ten years is a matter of wonder and surprise. It is probable that we have 
no tree with valuable wood that will reach saw.log size as soon as this. Like the 
elm, the intrinsic value of this tree has been overlooked. Let us enumerate : 

(1) It propagates from cuttings of any size, even more readily than the willow. 

(2) It is valuable for about the same uses as the famous tulip tree [Liriodondroa 
tulipifera), of Ohio. It makes very superier flooring, wainscoting, and even finish- 
ing lumber for houses. The boards used for siding, or for fencing, are vastly supe- 
rior to any of the poplar family, except it be the yellow coltonwood. For dry 
goods boxes, bowls, trays, carriage bottoms, trunk making, chair seats, &c., the 
wood is counted in Europe superior to pine or whitewood. 

(3) When thickly planted it runs up very straight, and the poles cut in thinning 
can be utilized by nailing on posts for fence, for rafters, sleepers, &c., as with the 
aspen. As with the latter, the trees for this use should be cut in summer and 
peeled, when they are quite durable if kept from the ground. 

Wild Red Cherry [Cerasus Pennsyhanica) . — This is a small-growing tree in its 
native haunts ; but it behaves so well under cultivation that it deserves a place in 
our timber plantations. It is peculiarly a northern tree, being found on nearly all 
soils, from the Atlantic coast to the head waters of the Mackenzie river, in British 
America. It is very nearly allied to the common cultivated cherry, and exhibits in 
its seedlings a marked capacity for variation and improvement. A variety is iu 
common cultivation in the south part of Benton county, Iowa, which bears heavy 
annual crops of fruit, which is considered excellent for culinary use. The fruit is 
fully as large as that of the black wild cherry, and of pleasant flavor. The wood 
of this tree is exceedingly hard, fine-grained, and of a reddish hue, and would be 
valuable for many uses in cabinet work, were it not for the natural small size of 
the tree. Grown thickly in artificial groves, its poles are straight and tall, and val- 
uable for such farm uses as nailing on posts, fence-stakes, vine-stakes, light fence- 
posts, &c. If dried before putting in the ground, it lasts as well for posts as black 
cherry. The pits kept in sand through winter grow as readily as those of black 
cherry. It transplants readily, and sprouts can be secured in nearly all parts of the 
State for setting in groves. It will not pay to grow this timber except for home 
use on the farm. 

White Willow [Salix alba). — Perhaps it may not be proper to include the willow 
among the timber trees proper, having a special value for farm uses, or for manu- 
facturing. Yet, where grown thickly, the poles are straight and uniform in size, 
and if cut in summer and bark peeled ofE, they last for several years nailed on posts 
for fence, and the fuel, if dried under cover, has a greater value for summer use 
than is generally supposed. It is specially mentioned in this connection, on ac- 
count of its combined adaptation for wind-breaks and fences on the bleak interior 
praiiics. If any one doubts the expediency of growing the white willow on an 
extended scale, let him pay a visit to Story county, Iowa. Several years since, Col. 
John Scott, of that county, earnestly advocated the extended planting of this tree 
for fences, for fuel, and for the arresting of wind-sweeps on their bleak, broad 
prairies. In the portion of the county where its planting has been genera], one can 
now hardly realize he is upon prairie in driving along the streets, lined on both 
sides for miles in extent with combined fence and wind-screen. Where best known, 
the wonder is expressed by prairie settlers how they got along before its advent in 
their neighborhood. Thomas Wardall, of Mitchell county, who has had a long 
prairie experience, writes of the white willow as follows in a report on hedges for 
the north : 

Seventh.— We tried the white willow. This has come to us at the north as a "God- 
send " Not because it makes the best hedges, for no one is so foolish as ta 
assume that, but because a stock- proof fence can be made of it in brief time, and 
at small expense, which at once is a fence and a wind-break. A combination of 
thiskirid the denizens of our northern prairies can appreciate. The variety mostly 
in use in our section, and in Minnesota, will not bear plashing, or even weaving, 
and will not lose the tree-habit of growth, by being headed back. So we have by 
mutual consent abandoned all attempts at hedge making proper, and we aim to se- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 29 

cure a close bottom at once, then give protection from stock for two years, and 
we have a profitable investment la what will become a solid wall of live timber 
in a very few years ; at once a fence, a valuable screen from the sweeping winds of 
summer and winter, and which will give a constant supply of passable firewood 
from the tops. And now for the plan for forming such a stock barrier, to which I 
will ask special attention. Let every northern farmer pLint out a willow g.ove, 
with good, large cuttings, in early spring. Plant four feet apart, both ways, and 
cultivate well for two or three years, and a large growth will be secured. When 
five years old, trim out all but one plant to each hill. Cut off stakes five and one- 
half feet long from these trimmings. Sharpen these stakes and drive them eigh- 
teen inches deep in a well prepared fence row. When the soil is soft in the spring, 
the driving can be done without bruising the bark. Let the stakes be driven closely, 
not more than six inches apart. Nail a stay-lath near the top. A three-inch barn- 
batten answers the purpose well. Mulch heavily or cultivate well and often. In 
two years, a fence may be made that may be depended on to turn stock, but which 
will have the one fault of not being beautiful : 

The Iowa Horticultural Society fixed upon the 20th day of April, 1874, 
and afterward, annually, unless changed, as a day to be devoted to the plant- 
ing of trees and seeds of trees, designed to form permanent groves, or for 
ornament. This day proving cold and stormy the first year, planters com- 
peting for premiums, were allowed the next year to select the time most con- 
venient. 

In earlier numbers of the Forestry Annual, the following suggestions, are 
also ofiered : 

Prairie farms need shelter most on the west, next on the north, next on the south, 
while their usefulness on the east is not so great, though sufficient to call for plant- 
ing. * * * A good combination for an evergreen belt, is two or three 
rows of white pine for center, two rows of Scotch or Austrian pine on each side, 
and two rows of red cedar, or arbor vilae outside of these, making ten or eleven 
rows, and giving, by different rates of growth, a belt with a conical cross-section, 
and limbs from the ground up. Another good combination is made of Norway 
spruce for center, white spruce next, and black spruce and red cedar, or arbor vit« 
outside. 

The Scotch pine is, in many localities, found well adapted to outside rows, 
from its hardy habits. It needs more room for growth than the white pine. 
In planting wind-breaks, it was recommended that the outside rows should 
be nine feet apart, and plants five feet apart in the rows. It was remarked, 
that people, generally, are apt to over estimate the time it will take to secure 
returns of fuel from artificial groves. Cottonwood needs to be thinned the 
fourth or fifth year. If properly grown and cultivated, the poles then cut 
out will average 2|-^inches in diameter at the bottom, and twelve feet long. 
From a full stand, one-half, or 1,775 poles, would be cut at this period from 
an acre. Green ash needs thinning at six or seven years, and makes poles as 
large as those of the Cottonwood, at four or five. Those who have tried it 
say that it pays better to raise wood for fuel, than to haul the supply needed 
five miles for ten years. 

As for wood grown for other uses than as fuel, it was estimated that a crop 
of ash for hoop-poles, or larch for stakes, might be grown in from seven to 
eleven years ; and of oak and hickory, in twelve to sixteen years. Larch 
would grow to a size for posts in twelve to fifteen years ; and for 
telegraph poles, in eighteen to twenty years, on valley lands. Walnut, hick- 
ory, elm and other tie timber, might be fit for use in from fourteen to eigh- 
teen years. Cottonwood might be sawn at fifteen years, and white pine in 
thirty. 

As some of the foregoing varieties of timber are more cheaply propagated 



30 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

from cuttings than in any other way, I again plunder the transactions of the 
State Horticultural Society for a paper on the subject, prepared by me for its 
annual winter session at Owatonna, January, 1877. 

THE PROPAGATION OF TREES BY CUTTINGS. 

A paper on "The Propagation of Trees by Cuttings," by L. B. Hodges, 
Esq., of St. Paul, was read, after which the paper was ordered on file for 
publication, and Mr. Jewell moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Hodges for his 
humorous and instructive essay, and also a rebuke for his reflection on the 
religious intelligence of the members of tbe society. The resolution was 
passed amid laughter and applause. 

The following is the paper in full : 

When a small boy, more than fort}'' years ago, in the pleasant village of 
Canandaigua, N. Y., my attention was arrested by a magnificent great willow 

on the premises of Judge A , one of the pioneers of that region. It was 

a tradition among the boys, that this immense tree grew from a willow 
switch which the Judge cut in Connecticut and used as a riding whip during 
his horseback journey from Connecticut to Western New York; and for over 
thirty years of my manhood ]iassed on the broad prairies of the Northwest, I 
have often seen and heard of similar willows with very similar histories. 
Now, this is all well enough per .s-e, but when intelligent and educated gentle- 
men, on the strength of such occasional and isolated cii'curastances, afiirm 
that all you have got to do in order to grow the willow, the cottonwood. or 
the Lombardy, is to simply stick a cutting in the ground in most any sort of 
a hap-hazzard way, they are siinply leading the multitude astray and doing 
harm rather than good. The object of this paper is to furnish to the people 
interested in the propagation of forest trees by this particular method, such 
practical information as a long and varied experience has proved to be cor- 
rect. 

If this sort of experience is in conflict with ti-adition and preconceived no- 
tions, why so much the worse for the traditions and notions. I begin by say- 
ing that the proper preparation of the soil is not only of primary importance, 
but also a prerequisite condition of success. 

SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. 

Your ground must be good ground, it must be thoroughly subdued and 
mellow before planting; and riglit here I propose to point out and expose the 
practical nonsense and absurdity of the proposition that a cutting will grow 
anyhoAVj so you only stick it in the gr-ound. Acting on this absurd proposi- 
tion, hundreds of thousands of all sorts of cuttings have been stuck in all 
Borts of ground by all sorts of people. The results are well illustrated in the 
parable of the sower. 

(Before going to bed to-night, you fellows who havn'fc read that parable for 
twenty years or more, had better look it over.) 

Soon after the passage of the Timber Culture Act of 1873, I read in one of 
the most ably-conducted and widely-circulated of o\ir country pa])ers, an edi- 
torial showing the settler how to grow a forest under the provisions of said 
act. jE?oi7e(Z f/owOT, it simply amounted to this: Strips of breaking two or 
three furrows wide, said strips twelve feet apart and the cuttings to be stuck 
twelve feet apart in the strips, in the raw, unsubdued sod ; no further labor 
or expense necessaiy — result, a forest. I promptly denounced the absurdity 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 3 1 

of such teachings, but for all that, a heap of fellows had to tiy it on. It 
would be a good time now for them to report what luck they have had. 

In the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, my curiosity has led mo 
over quite a large number of tree claims which have been planted in good 
faith in accordance with such teachings. 

Candor compels me to say that when you find a muley cow climbing trees 
stern first, it will be up one of the trees so propagated on one of those tree 
claims. 

The Northern Pacific Railroad company expended a number of thousands of 
dollars in just about that sort of a. way of propagating forest trees from cut- 
tings, and succeeded in demonstrating that it was just as easy to drive a gov- 
ernment mule through the eye of a needle, as to grow forest trees in any such 
way as that. 

The idea of getting something for nothing, is a bad one. There must be 
an equivalent, a quid pro quo. 

In your dealings with each other, this idea of something for nothing may 
work, occasionally, — but you can't bulldoze the prairie with any such non- 
sense. 

The cuttings plunged full length into a deep, rich, mellow soil, under the 
vivifying influences of heat and moisture, soon begins to expand its buds, 
and throw out its slender, threadlike, fibrous roots. If the ground has been 
properly prepared, those roots at once begin to draw nourishment for the in- 
cipient tree; the buds grow into branches, and in a few months you have a 
thoroughly developed forest tree, and the better cultivation you give this 
young tree, the sooner you get a tree that is of some use in the world. 

On the other hand, the cutting stuck in the raw sod, makes a failure in 
trying to get its roots into the hard earth in a vain attempt for nourishment; 
strugeles along in a feeble, quiet sort of a way till dry weather sets in, and 
then quietly starves to death without a struggle or a groan, and the innocent 
author of this miserable abortion wonders what ails his trees, and sometimes 
gets mad, and uses "cuss-words" about the man who sold him the cuttings. 
To go back to the starting point : break your prairie in June ; break 
shallow— back-set or cross-plow last of September, turning up two or three 
inches of fresh dirt. 

If in a hurry, (to save your claim) harrow thoroughly, and plant your cut- 
tings right along up to the time the ground shuts up, and if not through, 
finish up the job early in the ensuing spring. If not in a hurry, it is a good 
practice to raise a crop before planting cuttings. A hoed crop is best, and if 
well cultivated leaves the ground in admirable condition for tree-planting. If 
you sow small grain before planting, you can't be too careful in getting your 
seed perfectly clean. 

A few grains of wild buckwheat, or, what is more to be dreaded, pigeou 
grass, will give you an infinite amount of trouble, and by increased labor in 
keeping it down, double the cost of growing the forest. 

In growing a wind-break from cuttings, for a single row, I would prepare 
a strip of ground not less than 8|- feet wide, by deep ploughing and thor- 
ousfh harrowing. 

I would have the ground as mellow as an ash-heap. 

I would draw a line lengthwise along the center of this strip, and about 
every twelve or eighteen inches would plunge the cutting in nearly or quite 
full length, and at once tramp the mellow earth firmly around the cutting ; 
and then I would keep that strip of ground clean as a hound's tooth. I 
wouldn't allow a weed or blade of grass to grow on that strip dedicated to 
the wind-break ; and I should keep the cultivator running up and down the 



32 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

maroin eacli side the row of young trees pretty often till harvest time, after 
•which, if any weeds or grass had put in an appearance, would pull them uj;., 
carry them off and burn them up. 

I should repeat this process the next season, and in the fall would mulch 
heavy with good manure. 

I think by that time you will have that strip of prairie pretty well bull- 
dozed, and a wind-break started that won't dry out or freeze out, and which 
will stand and grow in spite of grasshoppers or other enemies, 

TIME OF PKEPARING CUTTINGS. 

As far as the willow is concerned, most any time will do. 

I have cut them nearly every month in the year, yet would prefer cutting 
and planting right along through the month of May, as being then liable to 
less loss and better growth. 

I confess, in my own experience, to more satisfactory results with cotton- 
wood cuttings cut and planted in October and November than in any other 
month. 

As far as willow, cottonwood and Lombardy cuttings are concerned, good, 
fresh, healthy ones are about as sure to grow (in Minnesota) if properly 
handled, and under the most favorable circumstances, as either corn or po- 
tatoes. Failure is not necessary. Do your work intelligently and thor- 
onghly, and at the proper time, and success is the rule. 

CARE OP CUTTINGS TILL PLANTED. 

In the fall of 1874 I caused to be cut and hauled together enough white 
willow to make five hundred thousand cuttings. I reduced some of this 
brush to cuttings in the fall, tied them up in bunches of a hundred each, 
set them up on end in trenches dug about a foot deep, threw a foot of dirt 
over them and let them lay till sprini^. The balance was stacked in good 
shape, covered with a layer of slough hay — threw enough loose dirt over it 
to keep the wind out, and let the thing go till it thawed out in the spring — 
then uncovered it, worked it up into cuttings and planted them. They came 
good and grew well, and I never knew any difference between those buried 
in trenches or those of the stack. Whenever, in the course of human events, 
I found a lot of cuttings • drying up and apjiarently worthless, before planting 
I would "swell 'em up" by throwing them into the most convenient lake, 
pond or stream. But a good way is to keep them buried in the trench until 
yovi are ready to plant. 

There are plenty of cottonwood trees in Minnesota propagated from cut- 
tings in the manner I recommend, now big enough to make a cord of wood 
each — 17 to 20 years from the cutting. 

You can grow 300 such trees to the acre. Can you grow anything that 
will pay better ? 

Is there any better way to "conquer the prairie," or to bulldoze and in- 
timidate old JSoreas ? 

From Dr. Hough's report, page 554, I clip the following as worthy of a 
place here, and also because it touches some points that were overlooked in 
the preparation of the foregoing paper. 

Mr. J. L. Budd, now of the Iowa State Agricultural College, furnished 
for the State Horticultural Eeport of 1H68, p. Ill, an article upon this sub- 
ject, from which we condense the following: 

The red maple [Acer rubrum), silver maple [A. dasycarpum), ash-leaved maple 
{Neyundo eceroides), cottonwoods (Populus monilifera and ungulata), balm of Gilead 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 33 

{P. baisamifera), Lombardy poplar (P. dilatata), white poplar (P. Alba), sycan^ore 
(Platamts occidenialis), and white willow (Salix alba), will grow from cuttings, and 
all thrive on the western prairies. They should be cut early in winter, before 
severe freezing, in lengths of about one foot. They should be chosen from three- 
fourths of an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, and the lower end wilh a 
clean cut,, without; bruising or mashing. Of maples the two year old wood is best; 
of the other kinds it makes bui little difference, if the growth is free and healthy. 
Tie in bundles with willows, the lower end nicely evened, so that when placed on 
the ground in spring every piece will touch the moist earth. Pack the bundles in 
a dry goods box with moist prairie soil, putting the box where it will not get too 
dry or wet, and will not freeze. With the first warm weather of spring clean off a 
spot under an old hay-stack, level the surface carefully and set the bundles, butt- 
end down, closely together, upon the fresh, moist earth , then cover them with 
straw so as to keep them from the air. By the time the ground gets warm enough 
to plant, the base of the cuttings will be softened, and most of them will have 
small roots. 

WHITE WILLOW, {Salix alba.) 

My own opinion of this valuable .vegetable is too well known in Minne- 
sota to justify me in repeating the arguments I have used in its behalf, lo, 
these many years. A few extracts and opinions from other and more author- 
itative sources, and I then cheerfully submit the character of this old friend 
to the jury. 

Again quoting from Dr. Hough's report, page 108 : 

1. Salix alba, the white or Huntingdon willow, a fine tree which in proper soil 
will, in twenty years, make an average of two cubic feet a year. The wood is light, 
tough, easily worked, and proper for tool handles, hoops, cooper work, &c., and its 
bark is used for tanning, and in medicine as a tonic and astringent, being recog- 
nized in our pharmdlcopcBias, and sometimes used as a substitute for Peruvian bark. 
Its active principle, SrtfeiVi, is also used as a remedy in intermittent fevers. This 
willow has been alrciid^'' widely introduced, and in the prairie region of the north- 
west it it valued above all other trees as a wind-break. It makes a very good fuel, 
and its wood is useful for a great variety of purposes. 

Professor Sargent mentions a willow between Stockbridge and Great Barrington, 
Mass., planted, it is said, as a cutting in 1807, that now, at four feet from the ground 
is twenty-one feet eight inches in circumference. 

An English writer, in speaking of the willows, says that the white willow, when 
unpruned and grown naturally in favorable conditions, is the handsomest of the 
willow family, whether we regard its general outline, habit, or the peculiar white- 
ness of its foliage, which forms a pleasing contrast with the darker green of other 
trees. It comes forward rapidly on the deep river banks and rich alluvial bottoms, 
too damp for most other timber -trees. In Great Britain within a few years willow 
timber has come universally into use as blDCks for brakes in railroad cars, so that 
wood of good size has become scarce and high-priced. The charcoal of all willows 
of suitable size is used in making gunpowder. Among other uses to which certain 
kinds of willow are used in Europe, and for which it is especiallly adapted, are pad- 
dle-wheel floats, and for shrouding water wheels, cart-linings (being not liable to 
splinter,) turner's uses, shoe lasts, wythes for tying, &c. Something has been said 
of its incombustible properties, but more than facts will justify. 

Willow Hedges. — In Northern Iowa, where the Osage orange is too tender for 
the climate, the white willow has been found to answer an excellent purpose as well 
for a hedge to stop cattle as for a wind-break. 

Mr. Thomas Wardall, of Mitchell county, gives the following advice in 
the cultivation of this tree : 

I have seen cuttings planted on the same day, and with the same soil and treat- 
ment in all respects, except that part where mulched and part were not, and where . 
the former succeeded well, the latter utterly failed. I have seen cuttings when not 
mulched, make a nice start, but perish in the heat and drought of summer. I have 
seen large cuttings, driven into an unbroken prairie-sod, make a fine growth when 

3 



34 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

a sufficient mulch was applied to subdue the native grass. But in this manner of 
plantine, the mulch should be heavy, and should extend at least five or six feet on 
each side of the rows to give the plants a chance. It would be better, within a year 
or two ihereatter, also to break a greater width outside of the mulch, as the sod 
would interfere witii the growth of the trees, as soon as the roots should reach that 
distance. tStraw, haj', stalks, manure, sawdust, anything that will meclianically 
serve tlie purpose of mulch, will answer, but manure would stimulate the growth 
very satisfactorily. * # * 

Cutting back may be resorted to in cases where there has been a poor stand, but 
not where the plants stand within twelve or fifteen feet of each other. The trees 
should not be plashed down or woven together, but should be stimulated to make a 
strong, upright growth. Late planting is even worse than close planting. This is 
especially true if the buds have started before the cuttings were made, or if they 
have been allowed to dry before setting While young and tender, the shoots must 
be guarded from live stock. Calves will eat the tender shoots, and keep them shora 
80 close as to kill out the strongest plantings while young. Shallow planting, thin 
soil, standing water on the surface, grass and weeds to smother the plants, are all to 
be avoided or remedied. In short, avoid everything that interferes witli a good 
stand and a vigorous growth, and you will never have cause to call the white, willow 
a humbug. * * * 

The amount of fuel that may be cut from a rod of fence, taking all above the 
height of three feet, is much greater than most persons would think, and its repro- 
duction on the same spot, without further labor, makes it a crop of no mean value 
on the open prairie. * * * 

Mr, O. B. Galusha, in a lecture at the Illinois Industrial University in 
1869, in speaking of the white willow, says : 

I regard this as probably combining more desirable qualities for cultivation in 
groves, for lumber purposes, than any other variety of the soft-wood, rapid-growing- 
deciduous trees, and am decidedly of the opinion that tliis and the golden variety 
are the best deciduous trees within my knowledge for wind-breaks or screens, but 
wish to be distinctly rmderstood as not recommending this tree Jis a hedge-plant, or 
the planting of this or any other one sort to the neglect of other desirable varieties. 
Strong cuttings of this tree seldom fails to strike root at once in mellow soil, and 
will make a growth of from two to six feet the first season. It thrives in all kinda 
of soil, making as much wood in a given number of years as any other known sort, 
not even excepting the cottonwood, growing into a large tree, sometimes four feet 
in diameter. The wood is of rather tine texture for a liglit wood, making a fair arti- 
cle of soft lumber wliich bears a fine polish. It is also valuable for making wooden 
ware, bowls, trays, &c. It also splits freely, which is a desirable quality in making 
fence-posts, rails, railroad-ties, and fire-wood. * * * The golden wil- 
low is similar in growth and texture to the white, but I think does not make so large 
a tree. I have measured about a dozen trees of this variety (golden); which were 
planted by the roadside fifteen years ago last spiing, and tind the average circum- 
ference of the trunks at three and a half feet from the ground to be five feet three 
inches. A white willow * * * which has grown from a small cutting 
put in thirteen years ago last spring, now measures six feet two inches near the 
ground, forming a head or top thirty feet across. This variety, when planted in 
groves, grows tall and almost perfectly straight. I have carefully computed the 
expense of raising ten acres of trees of this variety, and converting them into lum- 
ber, and find the entire cost not to exceed $10 per thousand feet. This estimate is 
based upon actual measurement of the growth of trees. The land itself is valued at 
$40 per acre, with interest upon this amount, together with expeivses computed as 
before, at i-ix per cent, compound interest. I take ten acres in these estimates of 
growing artiticial groves because it is desirable iu huve trees enough together, or in 
close proximity, that the cost of putting up and removing a saw mill would l3e but 
a trifle upon each thnusand feet of lumber sawed. 

The value of the willow in preventing erosion in the banks of rivers and streams, 
for holding the soil liable to washing uway in vulleys, and forfillini? up the chtui- 
nels worn by small streams in loose gravelly soil, and preventing further gullying, 
must have been noticed by every ob.>erving peison. This office is perlormed by the 
mullitufle of long tracing roots that it sends through the d tmp soil wherever they 
find nourishment, the shoots by which it multiplies and spreads from the roots, and 
sometimes when crowded, by the prostrate br*nches. 

Such willows, when abundant and of large growth, also serve a useful purpose by 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 35 

preventing injuries from floating ice in rivers, and they are turned to profitable use 
by engineers for holding in place the new deposits of mud formed under the shelter 
of jetties and other hydraulic improvements. 

Samuel Edwards, of Bureau county, 111., writes to the Germantown Tele- 
graph, of the white willow as a timber tree as follows : 

"It has been grown here since 1845, and the more we become acquainted wi th it 
the better we like it. No other tree lias made as rapid growth ; a cutting set iu 
1845 is over four feet in diameter. Many are planting it all over the prairie region 
for timber ; much is being set for hedge screens, which are cut down every few 
years at four feet from the ground, affording a great amount of fuel and poles for 
fencing. 

"Formerly small sized cuttings were set, but for some years stakes five and a half 
feet in length, from one to three inches in diameter, have been preferred, setting 
them 18 inches deep, and a foot apart." 

General James S. Brisbin, U. S. A., writing from Omaha, to the Chicago 
Tribune, April 27th, 1874, says : 

" The beautiful, green, graceful, white willow. Who does not love it ; and what 
ranchman does not hail it as his friend, and delight to sit in its cool shade ? 

" It grows almost spontaneously ; shelters from heat or cold ; keeps off wind, rain 
or sleet, and is a green spot on which to rest the eye when all around is desolate, 
barren and a desert. It grows from a skoot without roots, and foresters always 
praise its rapid and graceful return for the slight labor they bestow upon it. A tree 
of this kind attains a height of 60 or 70 feet, and shows an immense trunk. For 
shade trees along the highways it is unsurpassed, repelling heat, wind and cold, 
and no drive can be finer than through an avenue of willows." 

J. Plank, Eyota, Minn., March, 1874, writing to the Farmers' Union, 

says : 

" I think white willow makes the best and cheapest fence. In six years (from 
planting) you can have a live fence, which will have cost you 25 cents a rod, and 
last a lifetime. I have about a hundred rods of it that will turn any kind of stock, 
I am going to put in some more this spring." 

Jesse W. Fell, replying to an article in the Prairie Farmer derogatory to 
the white willow, says : 

" If the writer of that article will call at our house at Normal, it will afford me 
much pleasure to show him a section of a moss-covered fence-rail that has lain in a 
fence more than forty years, and is yet perfectly sound ; and if he will go with me 
to my native county (Chester, Pa.), I will show him miles of fence made of the 
same material, and "that has lasted the same length of time. That it makes good 
fuel — I will not say the best — is not doubted. I therefore enter my earnest protest 
against the remark that "this timber is of little value" The timber itself is of 
great value, especially in a country like this ; and when, in addition, you take into 
account how easily and surely it is propagated, simply by cutlings; how rapidly it 
grows, how sound and healthy a tree it is, how vigorously it reproduces itself from 
the &tump where cut down, and yet does not spread from the roots ; I say, when all 
these things are taken into the account, it is questionable whether, for the millions, 
it is not after all the tree for this country and climate. I did not intend to say so 
much, but could not well say less when one of my old friends had been so unjustly 
assailed. Whilst I am writing fierce winds are whistling around me, the force of 
which is unbroken for many miles by tree or shrub, except by those embryo forests 
in which this very plant cuts the most prominent figure, and I must raise ray voice 
in its behalf." 

Col. John Scott, of Story county, in Central Iowa, reported in 1876* 
that many miles of willow hedge were planted in that county, and that more 
than one himdred miles would be found a complete barrier against stock. 
Many miles had been set in a random, aimless way, and were worthless as a 
fence, although somewhat profitable as fuel and shelter. 

*"7Vo«« gintraldu Coniftrta," p. 280. 



36 FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 

He gives his method for successful planting as follows : 

1. The row should be made mellow and deep, and the better the condition as to 
richness, freedom from weeds and good tilth the better. If in good condition for 
com it will do for the willow. 

2. The cuttings should be made before the buds swell in the spring ; they should 
be packed in moist earth to keep them from drying out ; they should be from the 
upright rather than the lateral growth, as being more thrifty ; and may be from six 
inches to si.x: feet in length, and from one-half to four inches in diameter. 

3. It is best that they be assorted before planting, so that those of about the same 
size may be planted together. 

4. They should be set in a straight line, and only one row planted, and should be 
ten or twelve inches apart. The cuttings are often set too closely. They should 
have room to spread themselves in. 

ASH AND LARCH. 

Failures have often been encountered in transplanting the larch, by over- 
looking the important principle that the top should bear a corresponding 
relation in its leaves to the root in its radicles. Many of the latter are 
necessarily torn off with the most careful transplanting, and it is a safe rule 
to shorten the branches in a corresponding degree. The larch should be 
planted early in the season. 

THE ASH AND THE LAKCH. 

In an article by Mr. Arthur Bryant on the ash and the larch, he mentions 
the white ash as one of the most important timbers in the northern States, 
and concerning the difficulty of raising from seed, he says : 

If the seed be sown soon after gathering from the tree, without drying, it will 
come up well in the spring ; but if dried, a great part will often fail to vegetate the 
first year, even if kept through the winter in damp sand. Care must be laken not 
to cover too deeply. Probably forest trees, as well as others, often fail -from this 
cause. When self-sown they have no other covering than leaves, or a little earth, 
when concealed by mice or squirrels. If sown in autumn, ash-seed should be cov- 
ered with litter during winter, to prevent washing out by rains. 

It seems very probable that the seed of the green ash is as often gathered and 
sown as that of thewliite. The green ash is common along streams in the west. 
It produces seed more frequently than the white ash, and upon small trees, and is, 
therefore, more easily collected. The seed vegetates with more certainty than that 
of the white ash, even if sown dry, and the young trees grow more rapidly for the 
first year or two. When in leaf it may easily be distinguished from the white ash. 
The timber is similar in quality, but it has the disadvantage of never becoming a 
large tree. The white ash is somewhat variable in its characteristics, and some of 
these variations have formerly been named and described by botanists as permanent 
varieties or even species. It belongs to northern latitudes, and only obtains its fullest 
development in colder climates than that of northern Illinois. The blue ash 
abounds in more southern latitudes than the white ; it is, in every respect as valua- 
ble, and has the advantage of being more durable. The combination of strength, 
lightness and elasticity in ash timber, renders it superior to any other native wood 
for many purposes, and the demand for it must always be extensive. 

Much has been said and written in praise of the European larch ; but, neverthe- 
less, little, if any, notice has been taken of its peculiar fitness for railroad ties. 
[The writer highly commends this timber for this use, citing English authorities. 
It grows rapidly, closely, and in fifteen years, becomes 50 feet high, and 8 to 12 
inches in diameter. It should never be planted on wet land] The American larch 
has been eulogized as fully equal to the European in durability. Michaux describes 
it as having the same properties. In the British Provinces, north of the Saint 
Lawrence, and in Newfoundland, where it is highly esteemed, it grows upon up- 
land, forming large masses of forest. In the United States it is found only in 
swamps — never on upland ; a fact which Michaux regards as evidence that the cli- 
mate of the northern limits of the United States is too mild for its constitution. 
From all the testimony the writer has been able to collect from those who have used 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 37 

it, it appears that when in swamps in the United States, it is by no means remark- 
ably dunible ; whether this is owing to soil or climate is a matter of uncertainty. 
The European larch is found principally in the central and southern parts of Eu- 
rope, and is, therefore, better suited to the climate of northern Illinois than the 
Ameriain species, which reaches perfection only in a much colder climate, and is, 
likewise, of slower growth. 

LAECH PLANTATIONS OF THE DUKE OF ATHOL. 

The plantations of larch by the Duke of Athol, have been often men- 
tioned, and were begun in 1728, Between 17-40 and 1750, James, then 
bearing this title, planted over 1,200 larch trees as an experiment; the tree 
being then new in Scotland. In 1759 he planted 700 more, mixed with 
other kinds, on a hillside very poor and stony, and with good results. His 
successor, John, first conceived the idea of planting the larch to the exclu- 
sion of other kinds, and covered four hundred acres of sterile hillsides with 
this timber. He died in 1774, and his son Duke John, continuing the prac- 
tice, had, in 1783, planted 279,000 trees. Between 1786 and 1791 he planted 
six hundred and eighty acres with 500,000 larches. He continued the prac- 
tice till 182G, when he and his predecessors had planted more than 14,000,- 
000, covering more than ten thousand acres. It was estimated that the larch 
in seventy-two years gained its fullest value, and before reaching this age 
the trees should be thinned to 400 on an acre. Estimating the trees at fifty 
cubic feet, worth a shilling a foot, the product would be £1,000 per acre on 
the poorest land for agricultural purposes that could be found in the country. 

The condition of the forests on this estate was described in 1873* as 
follows : 

The woodlands extend to over ten thousand acres, divided into five districts, 
each under a separate forester. The woods were still mainly larch ; but it had in 
many cases been planted in soil better suited for the Scotch fir. But one man-of- 
war frigate, the Athol, had ever been built from the larch, it having fallen into dis- 
repute for ship building on account of the disease which had appeared within the 
last thirty or forty yearSj and the recent substitution of iron for wood, which had 
reduced the calculation of £1,000 per acre to £15ii or £200. The disease appeared 
universal, and no remedy had been found short of cutting off and replanting. It 
appeared to be atmospheric, and appeared as a fungus like growth on the stem of 
the tree, generally near the axils of the branches, then developing itself as a blister, 
and finally a hole or wound, as if a branch had been rudely broken off. There was 
still a tine larch wood of three thousand acres, covering hills that rise sixteen hun- 
dred feet above the sea The forester in charge approved the practice of removing 
the lower dead limbs of the larch, which could best be done in very dry, clear 
weather, whether warm or frosty, as the branches were then brittle. Plantations 
of Scotch fir and other conifers were being introduced, and the sycamore-maple 
was found to flourish extremely Avell. Larch trees pUinted by the Duke of Athol in 
1743. were in 1795 nine feet three inches around at four feet from the ground, and 
one hundred feet high. In 1869 these trees measured more than sixteen feet around, 
and were one hundred and twenty feet high. 

RATE OF GROWTH AND DURABILITY OF THE EUROPEAN LARCH. 

The experience of European observers, is very generally united in as- 
signing great durability to this timber, and these opinions have been often 
quoted in essays intended to encourage its growth in this country, ^ Car- 
riere, after describing eight species of the Larix, remarks that this tree 
was known to the ancients, and that it is cited by Pliny as most valuable 
on account of the fineness and elasticity of its wood. He highly com- 
mends it, as well for ornamental planting, as for its rapidity of growth, 

♦"Reports on Forest Man;, gement," by CapU Campbell Walker, p. 115. 



38 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, 

the large size that it attains, and the superior quality of its timber.* 
Laslet says-.j "The wood is of a yellowish white color, tough, strong, 
and occasionally a little coarse; but it is generally straight and even in 
the grain. It works up tolerably well, and is considered to be very dura- 
ble, but has the serious drawback of excessive shrinkage, with a tendency 
to warp in seasoning." Grigor says, J that when favorably situated, no 
tree becomes so valuable in so short a time, and that it is particularly 
durable, as posts and palings, and in all structures that come in contact 
with the ground. It is constantly employed for railway sleepers, for mill 
axles, and in ship building. These opinions might, in fact, be extended 
almost indefinitely, and with but little to be said against it. It also pos- 
sesses qualities which we scarcely have seen noticed in connection with its 
culture in this country, as the source of tanning material in its bark, and 
of Venice turpentine, in its resinous sap. 

A section was exhibited by D. C, Scofield, of Elgin, 111., in 1874, which 
had been imported as a small plant in 1858, and had grown to nearly a 
foot in diameter in thirteen years. He also exhibited a branch a fourth 
of an inch in diameter which had been seven years among decaying rub- 
bish on the ground, and was still hard and sound. This test was claimed 
to demonstrate the remarkable durability of the European larch in the 
climate of Illinois, while the native species {Larix Americana) would not 
probably have lasted even half that time. 

Its rapidity of growth, beauty of foliage, and general value as a screen 
and ornamental tree have been sufficiently proved in this timber as grown 
with us. But has its durability as a post, or when in contact with the 
ground, been proved ? We apprehend that this durability depends upon 
the conversion of sap-wood into heart-wood ; a change that has not very 
often been observed in the larch grown in this country, or at least in the 
West. The Conifers, as a class, are found stronger and of better quality 
in proportion as their growth has been slow. 

In reference to the law which governs in the formation of wood, it is 
remarked by Bagneris§ that in the broad-leaved species, the vessels of the 
annual layers of growth are either distributed equally, as in the beech, 
horubean, poplars, willows, &c., or are congregated nearly together at 
the interior of the ring, and are wanting, or very small and scattered to- 
ward the exterior. This inner or porous l^yer is of spring growth, and 
about the same in width from year to year. The outer portion of the 
year's growth, formed later in the season, and generally called the autum- 
nal layer, is composed of heavy, compact, woody tisue, and this varies in 
thickness from year to year, being sometimes thick, and at others thin. 
These woods are therefore heavier, denser, and for most uses better in 
proportion to the rapidity of their growth. To this class belongs the 
oak, ash, and other kinds which show their rings conspicuously in section. 
Their heartwood is generally different in color from the sap-wood, being 
stronger and more durable ; while in the kinds that have their vessels 
scattered through the whole growth of the year, there is not much differ- 
ence in color, density, or durability between the heart-wood and the sap- 
wood. 

But the conifers have no ducts as in most other exogenous woods — 
their ligneous structure being made up of a peculiar kind of tissue, diifer- 
ing form common wood fiber, which may be known under the micro- 

*Traitc general den Con'free, p. 280. 

fTimber, and Timber Trees, p. 2o0. 

JAiboiicuIture, p. '2i2. 

J"MANUAL OK SYLVACULTURE." Translated by Fernandez and Smytliies, pp. 31 and 59. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 39 

scope by the numerous thin circular spots in the walls of the wood cells. 
These are found in no other woods except the gymnosperms. The outer 
margin of the annual layer, is in this class made up of harder and denser 
tissues than the inner, and this harder part is generally of about uniform 
width from year to year. The diiference in growth is'expended upon the 
inner and softer portion, and varies in thickness according as the 
amount of growth has been greater or less. This harder portion on the 
outer margin of each year's growth gives the wood more strength and 
durability, at least until the more porous part has been filled by resinous 
deposits, as in heart wood. For this reason, conifers of slow growth, in 
which these hard tissues are more abundant, have their wood stronger 
and better for most uses than the fast growing kinds. 

In visiting the plantation of Mr, C. D. Scolield, at Elgin, 111., during the 
last summer, he remarked that his larch, set as posts, scarcely lasted three 
years. It by no means follows that durabihty would not be gained with 
age, and the formation of heart-wood, or that this quality might not be 
imparted by injecting the timber with mineral salts. 

It is further probable, that the quality of wood may be found to vary 
with the soil, and that the larch, grown on the high gravelly land, would 
differ from that of the rich prairie mold. It is within the knowledge of 
all lumbermen that sap-pine has no durability in the ground. It is rea- 
sonable that sap-larch should exhibit the same properties. We know that 
the pine in our soil and climate acquires with age the most desirable qual- 
ities, and it is equally probable that the same may be true of the Euro- 
pean larch. It is probable that the durability of this timber would be 
increased by stripping off the bark and allowing it to season for a time 
before cutting. 

CALCULATIONS OF COST FOR ONE ACRE OF LARCH ; BY M. L. DUNLAP, OF CHAM- 
PAIGN, ILL. 

Trencli plowing $ 5 I Cultivating $ 4 

Harrowing and rolli ng 2| Hoeing the young trees 5 

Three thousand plants 30 | Cultivation five years 15 

J'reight 1 

.Spade and setting 3 | Total $65 

The cost of land, interest for six years, taxes, and the above in five 
years amount to |125, making the total cost at that time $190. No 
further attention would be needed for the next six years, when, with in- 
terest and taxes, the cost would have amounted to ^320. 

The crop at this time should consist of 2,500 trees, allowing 500 for loss. 
Of these, 100 may be taken out, leaving 1,500 standing. Those taken out 
would give 1,500 posts, worth |350, less |30 for cutting, and leaving $320. 
Thus, in twelve years the partial crop will have paid for the land with inter- 
est, and we have 1,500 larch trees, large enough in twelve years more for 
railroad ties, and worth, at 50 cents apiece, giving $800 for the land and 
trees, at the end of twenty-five years.* 

SUGGESTIONS ON PLANTING IOWA EXPERIENCE. 

Mr. Suel Foster, of Muscatine, Iowa, in a prize essay on forest tree plant- 
ing, offers the following suggestions as applicable in this State : f 

*Cited iu an address by Dr. JoliB A. Warden, in January, 1873, before the Kansas State board of 
Agriculture. Report of that year, p. £62. See, also, "OHIO AGRICULTURAL REPORT," 1871, p. 56. 
f'lOWA AGRICULTURAL REPORT," 1870, p. 328. 



40 FOREST TREE PLANTERS MANUAL. 

The larch is of tolerably rapid growth, growing half an inch or more in diameter 
each year for the first ten years, and the next ten years fully equal to one inch. 
This 'is in size equal to our black walnut, and it grows much better and straighter. 
The little trees should be bought of nurserymen, for it is a nice and particular thing 
to raise the larch or evergreen from seed. I would recommend to the faimers of 
Iowa to buy European Larch at two years old, at $10 to $15 per thousand. They 
should be set in the.nursery rows, 4)-^ feet apart, and one foot in the row, so that 
when one row is taken out it will make a wagon road tlirough the grove. Larcli 
must be moved very early in the spring, for they are among the very earliest trees to 
start to grow. The ground should be plowed very deep in the fall, then plowed in 
the spring as soon as possible, harrowed and pulverized very finely by turning the 
harrow bottom up the last time. Then stretch a line and set with a spade. Have a 
mud-hole to dabble the roots all in. While the man uses the spade a boy can handle 
plants. About 2,000 will be a day's work, and will cover about a quarter of an acre. 
They must be carefully plowed and hoed for two years, and if tlie weeds start too 
quick in May and June, the third or fourth years they should be plowed. 

Cost. — 8,000 plants for an acre, |80 ; setting out, $8 ; plowing and hoe- 
ing the first year, $8 ; plowing and harrowing the land before setting, $4 ;, 
second year, $4 ; two years after, $4 ; interest on the land at $50, eight 
years at eight per cent. =$32. Total cost of any acre of European larch at 
eight years, $140. 

Credit — By taking out 3,000 plants after two years' growth, to set in 
other ground, at $20 per thousand, $60. It is calculated that 1,000 in 
8,000 will die, although those who are accustomed to handling and cultivat- 
ing will not lose so many. Then half the plants are taken out, leaving 
them 2 by 4^ feet. When they are eight years old they will be poles fit for 
fence, two or three inches through and fifteen or twenty feet high, and an- 
other thinning out must be done by taking out 2,000, leaving the grove 4 
by 4^ feet. These poles are worth 5 cents each, $100. At eight years one^ 
acre has cost $140, and has a credit of $160. Those transplanted at two 
yeai's from setting should be set 4 by 4|-, covering about an acre and a half^ 
and will cost, in setting out and cultivating two years, something over $100> 
including the plants at $60, 

PLANTING OF THE ASH. 

Mr. J. L. Budd, now of Ames, Iowa, in a paper published in the Trans- 
actions of the Northern Illinois Horticultural Society (1867-'68, p. 72), 
advises keeping the seeds of the ash through the winter in kegs or boxes, 
mixed with clean moist sand, taking care that they become neither too wet 
nor too dry. JFreezing will do no harm. The ground should be marked and 
prepared as for corn, and planted at the intersections, placing four to six 
seeds in a hill. They should be carefully cultivated, and the next .spring 
thinned to one plant in each hill, the vacancies being supplied. By planting 
thus thickly, the young trees get a straight growth. At the end of six years 
every alternate row north and south should be thinned out, and at the end 
of ten years every alternate tree in each row. When twelve years old, on 
good soil and with proper culture the first four years, the grove would have 
12,000 trees on ten acres, averaging eight inches in diameter. By cutting 
the stump close to the ground, and covering with alight furrow on each side, 
a second growth is obtained in eight or ten years, more valuable than the 
first. 

Prof, of C. S. Sargent, in speaking of this timber, says : 
To develop its best qualities, the white ash should be planted in a cool, deep, 
moist, but well drained soil, where it will make a rapid growth. That the planta- 
tion may be as early profitable as possible, the young trees should be inserted in 
rows three feet apart, the plants being two feet apart in the rows. This would give 
7,260 plants to the acre, which should be gradually thinned until 108 trees are left. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 4I 

standing, twenty feet apart each way. The first thinning, which might be made at 
the end of ten years, would give 4,000 hoop-poles, which at present price would be 
worth $400. 

The remaining thinnings, made at different periods up to twenty-five or thirty 
years, would produce some three thousmd trees more, worth at least three times as 
much as the first thinnings. Such cuttings would pay all the expenses of plaatiag, 
the care of tlie plantation and the interest on the capital invested, and would leave 
the land covered with trees capable of beins; turned into money at a moment's no- 
tice, or whose value would increase for a hundred years, miking no mean inherit- 
ance for the descendants of a M issachusetts' farmer. The planting of the white ash 
as a shade and roadside tree is especially rec omnen led, and for that purpose it 
ranks, among our native trees, next to the sugar maple. 

OAK. 

To some Minnesota tree planters, a few words about the oak will perhaps 
be of interest. It has the reputation of being a slow grower, too slow for 
the planter to reasonably expect any benefit from his work. I am inclined 
to think this trait in its character has been somewhat exaggerated. Thou- 
sands of acres in Minnesota are now covered with groves of jack oak^ the 
trees now large enough to make four good rails from the butt cuts, where 
only 20 to 25 years ago nothing could be seen but small, short, shrubby 
brush. Some of these new forests will yield nearly or quite as much fuel 
and fencing per acre as the average pi-imeval forests. 

Such being the fact, and one not easily rubbed out, may it not be as well 
to look into this thing from a practical standpoint ? Taking a hint from 
nature, let us look into this grub prairie business a little. We find, usually, 
the jack oak grubs most numerous — next burr oak and white oak grubs. 
How they got thei»e, or how long they have been there, are among the things 
no fellow can find out. With my spade and ax I have "grubbed oat" many 
thousands of them — have dissected them, and examined them critically. I 
have found them in all periods of existence, from mere rootlings to masses 
of roots sufficient for a tree a hundred years old. 

A very large area of Goodhue county, Minnesota, the banner wheat county 
of the whole world, was, when I first made tracks over it, covered with such 
grubs, and had they been left ^^ndisturbed by the breaking plow, spade, ax 
and grub hoe, and protected from fire and cattle, Goodhue county would to- 
day be one of the finest timbered counties in Minnesota. 

Nearly all the great wheat counties of southeast Minnesota were, 25 
years ago, largely covered with just such grubs. The annual prairie fires 
swept over them with great regularity and certainty, annually burning off 
the brushy tops, but leaving the roots generally uninjured. The roots, 
protected by the earth from much damage by fire, kept up their subter- 
raneous growth with great vigor, thus laying up the amount of vital force 
which has backed up these young forests to such speedy and wonderfal 
development. And now, my christian friend, if you are so fortunate as to 
own a few acres of such grub prairies, guard it as the apple of your eye ; 
suffer no evil to befall it, and in a few years you will count it among the 
choicest of your earthly possessions. I would thus "point the moral, and 
adorn the tale " But should you be compelled to commence, de novo, I 
will try to point out what I would do. After I had gotten my young for- 
est well started ; ground well subdued and in a high state of cultivation — 
the surface tolerably well shaded by other young trees, I would plant the 
acorns among them. Repeated attempts and repeated failures, have con- 
vinced me that the young oak seedlings demands considerable shade for a 
year or two; and won't tolerate too much hot blazing sunlight. I have 



42 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



1 



had no trouble in growing the young plants to a height of four to six 
inches most anywhere, but I have so far found it extremely difficult to 
get them much further along unless somewhat shaded. The same re- 
marks are perhaps applicable to beech, birch and the coniferous tribe. 
The permanency, great durability and longevity of this tree justly entitles 
it to a very high rank in forestry. With the exception of the conifers, 
no tree is more generally useful to civilization, none more worthy of cul- 
tivation and perpetuity. I now proceed to again plunder that unfailing 
and inexhaustible fountain of forestry information (Hough's Report), for 
further items bearing on this subject. 

The Oak (Quercus sessilifolia and Q. pedunculata) was relatively more 
important among forest trees a century or two ago than now. Extensive 
forests of this timber have since been cleared for cultivation, so that the 
noblest forests are now among the hills. 

On account of diminishing supply and rising demand for oak timber, 
much has been done of late to promote its cultivation. Young trees shel- 
ter the soil from the sun, but as they advaace they demand more light and 
•room, so that many die unless seasonably thinned. In forests, the oak 
assumes greater dimensions when grown with other oaks alone, for it may 
be laid down as a rule that it thrives best with the crown free, the stem shel- 
tered and in shade, and the foot under covering. The Q. 2)edunculata is dis- 
posed to develope many branches, but where this is not possible (as in 
lorests of beech and oak), the stem is straight and free from branches to 
seventy or eighty feet, and the whole height one hundred to one hundred 
and thirty feet. The tap-root penetrates five or six feet in good soil, so 
that the subsoil is of great importance iu its growth and quality. Moder- 
ately cleft and inclined limestones, and the milder clay slates, the richer 
sandstones and marls, granite, basalt, greenstone and clayey porphyry, and 
good peat are favorable subsoils for both kinds of oak, as they generally 
continue fresh, and are not apt to hold water. The timber of this kind is of 
fine texture, tough, hard, and heavy. It is the strongest and most dura- 
ble timber grown in large quantities in Europe, and is indispensable in ship 
building, in the construction of mills, and structures in or near water, and 
w^hen submerged is indestructible. The Q. sessilifolia does not grow so 
quickly but has a longer life, is more disposed to form branches, but may 
under favorable circumstances grow to equal size. The roots do not pen- 
trate so deep, the wood is less tough and elastic, is more easily split, and 
therefore more prized by coopers. Being of coarser texture, it is not so 
well suited for carving and cabinet work, and being heavier, it forms bet- 
ter firewood, the proportion being as twelve to eleven. As a building 
timber it is little inferior to the Q. jyedunculata. The latter prefers plains, 
warm sunny valleys, and outlying hills of mountain ranges, while the for- 
mer is at home on the mountains themselves. They often grow together, 
but the Q. sessilifolia ascends the slopes to a greater height, although it 
does not grow so far north and prefers the south and west slopes. 

The oak is not by nature intended to form extensive and unmixed for- 
ests, but requires the aid of a shade enduring and soil improving tree ; for 
the growth of oak depends less on the kind of soil than on its quality, 
depth and freshness. No tree is better qualifed to perform these func- 
tions than the beech. In coppice wood with standards or reserved trees, 
the oak enjoys the sunlight, and does not throw much shade on the cop- 
pice below — acquires moderate thickness, but at the expense of its 
branches, and comes to greatest maturity at 200 to 240 years, but when 
■well exposed to the sun may be felled much sooner. In order to obtain 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 43 

valuable timber in such cases, the trees must, ere they grow too old, be 
stripped of their lower branches, as far as practicable. 

Oak reproduces itself frooi stools, and is suitable for coppices, the wood 
(generally at the period of sixteen years) being cut and peeled for tanner's 
use. The bark is most prized when grown on strong mineral soil on hill- 
sides, in sunny exposures, where the trees have not been too closely planted, 
and have room for development. It is best before it begins to split. In 
higher situations the Q. sossilifblia is said to yield bark in greater quantity 
and of better quality than the Q. peduncukota. 

The growth of oak depends less on the kind of soil than on its quality, the 
amount of humus, and, above all, of moisture contained in it. The best 
growth occurs in a deep, somewhat loose loamy sand, or sandy loam, but it 
thrives well on loam or sand. Although it prefers moisture, it will not grow 
in marshes unless drained. 

The oak thrives exceedingly well when mingled v/ith beech, because its 
penetrating roots draw their support more from the subsoil, while the beech 
spreads its roots near the surface. This association does not prosper, how- 
evei', in exposed situations or on shallow soils. 

MODE OF PLAJSTTING OAKS RECOMMEXDED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OP 
AGRICULTURE, ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 

To this society, formed in New York as a State institution in 1791, mtty 
undoubtedly be ascribed the first direct recommendation of a society for the 
planting of forests for their timber in the United States. 

In a circular issued at the beginning, they made particular inquiries con- 
cerning the propagation of the locust tree, the possibility of introducing the 
■white mulberry, and the profit and propriety of raising in nurseries and trans- 
planting hickory, chestnut, ash, beech, and other trees for fencing and fuel, 
and the planting of hedges. 

About 1795, a committee appointed to consider the best mode of preserv- 
ing and increasing the growth of wood and valuable timber, reported in favor 
of recommending this where the soil vi^as not better adapted to other uses. 
One of the committee, twenty years before, had allowed land worth $2.50 per 
acre to grow up to timber, then worth $12 per acre, besides the land, which 
had been improved in the meantime. They insisted upon the importance of 
fencing out cattle ; suggested the pi-opriety of cutting off old woodlands en- 
tirely, so as to give, the young trees an equal start; showed that the woods 
should not be thinned too much, as this would favor the growth of grass, to 
the injury of the trees ; and pointed out a method of planting oaks that de- 
serves notice : 

Oaks are best propagated by leaving the acorns on the surface of the ground, cov- 
ered with the grass ; but in this way the acorns are exposed to be devoured by ani- 
mals. To prevent this it is recommended t© preserve them through the winter and 
plant them in tlie following manner: First, make a bed of loam about six inches 
deep ; on this plant the acorns about two inches deep ; over them lay another bed 
of six inches of earth, over that another layer of acorns, and so on as far as the oc- 
casion requires. The whole must be covered with earth, to preserve them from the 
frost. Early in the spring the bed is to be opened, when the acorns, which will 
have begun to shoot, are to be planted about a foot distance from each other. 

Another method of planting them, is to dig a small hole with a pick-ax, and drop 
the acorn, covei'ing it with earth. This is a very simple method, but care must be 
taken not to bury the seed too deep ; two inches is fouud to be the best depth ; the 
less covering the better, provided the acorn is secured from birds and other animals. 
Another practice is to pare the earth with a plow and plant the acorns in rows, cov- 
ering them with the turf. This is not a great deal of labor, and will secure the 
acorns from animals. The distance of the rows may be at any man's pleasure, but 



44 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

the thicker the trees the sooner will the ground be shaded and the turf destroyed. 
As the young trees advance the weaker ones will die, and the vigorous and thrifty 
ones only survive. * * * 

We often see in a transplanted fruit tree the top die down and sprouta 
appear from the root, one of which, if spared, may become a vigorous tree. 
This is very liable to happen with the oak in bleak and ex2")Osed situations^ 
and foresters sometimes anticipate this by cutting them over by the surface 
of the ground after they have been planted a year, so as to develop new 
shoots, one of which is saved. 

In sheltered situations this becomes needless, and no time is lost in bring- 
ing forward the shoot as soon as possible. 

The managers of government forests in England, where oak is being raised 
for the royal navy, rear the trees from the acorn, and the trees are found tO! 
grow for the first few years more rapidly than if transplanted. 

Much difference of opinion has prevailed as to the distance at which young 
oaks should be planted ; in fact, as many views have been expressed as there 
are differences of circumstance, and each in its place may be best. It is 
often of advantage to grow other timber with the oak, and for this the fir 
has been planted in Scotland with best results, and this in exposed situa- 
tions becomes essential as a shelter till the oaks attain a size to take care of 
themselves. In such a case, a distance 10 to 12 feet apart for the oaks, and 
the same for the firs, making the distance between trees of alternate kinds 
3|- to 4 feet. The firs are cut out in a few years. It is thought that, besides 
the shelter thus gained, the oaks grow more rapidly with this mixture of 
young evergreens among them. (JBrowri's Forester, p. 364.) 

With the oak, its value depends rather on the quality than the length of 
its wood, and for ship building (its principal use) a straight trunk is some- 
times less prized than one of a proper curve. Now this wood cannot be 
grown of best quality unless free access of air is allowed, and hence dense 
plantings ai-e not economical. 

James Brown, a Scotch writer, mentions two lots of oak timber, one one 
hundred years old, with 200 trees to the acre, that sold for £360, and an- 
other ninety years old, with 109 trees, that brought £868. The latter had 
grown with free access of air, and had an abundance of bends fit for ship 
building. But such trees growing low, and with spreading branches, do not 
yield so much bark for tanning, and for this use a dense, tall coppice is best 
for quantity, although its quality is not equal to that of wood grown in open 
places. 

Oak grown in free air weighs almost double that from a dense shade, and 
its bai'k contains more tannin. 

OBLIQUE PLANTING. 

Among the established rules of planting are the three following : 

1. Set to the same depth as the plant stood in the nursery. * 

2. Spread with the hand the fibres of the root in their natural direction, 

3. It is essential that the plant should stand upright. 

A recent writer* has shown that these rules have their exceptions, and, 
describing the usual manipulation of planting, says : 

The workman takes the plant in his left hand, holds it vertically in the middle of • 
the hole to the proper depth, and with the right hand (not particularly caring for 
the direction of the roots), fill in the earth around the plant, crowding it down as it 

*M. Kegimbeni, in the "Revue des Eaux et Forets;> 1875, p. 139. The above is but a condensed ab- 
stract of this article. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 45 

fills up, and press it down with the feet. The operation thus described would be 
called well done, if executed carefully and without slighting. But as we turn in 
and press down the earth, the radicles are crowded together in a vertical direction, 
like the rods of an umbrella when shut, instead of being in a natural position, and 
more or less plants will be lost. 

My plan would be as follows : 

Having thrown out the dirt, I would put about half of it back, so as to make a 
slope on one side, against which I would lay the plant, the roots being of the same 
depth as before being drawn. In this position it is easy with either hand to spread 
out the radicles, and finish by filling the hole and pressing in the earth, as com- 
monly done. Plantations thus executed in 1859 appear now sensibly better than 
those in adjacent grounds, executed at the same time and in the common way. 
But in this case the plants were buried deeper than the rule prescribes, and to this 
may be due a part of the success. 

In deciduous plantations it is a rule to trim the young plants more or less, so as 
to preserve a due balance between the roots, torn and lessened by the extraction, 
and the top. Resinous species should never be subjected lo this operation, but 
they generally shed more or less of the lower leaves, which amounts to the same 
thing, and leave only a tuft of small branches and leaves at the top, exposed to the 
winds and the weight of snows, which are most liable to injury the first winter. 

It therefore appears probable that a young plant would suffer less to have these 
lower leaves buried, than to lose them by drying in the air, and that planting a lit- 
tle deeper is beneficial — rules to the contrary. 

On the other hand, if we plant young oaks in autumn, some vertically and others 
horizontally (it might not be the same in spring, and I give my own experiences), 
it does not appear to show any dilfereuce. It appears chiefly important that the 
plants be laid deep enough, while by the oblique method the roots are most easily 
placed somewhat in their first position. 

As to expense in planting, the difference of time is from fifteen to twenty per 
cent, in favor of the method recommended, which has rhoreover a decided advant- 
age of not being so liable to damage from the heaving of frost. 

I do not hesitate to recommend the burying of more of the stem than was covered 
before, the proportion extending to two-thirds or more. 

PLANTATION" OF EVERGREENS— PROFESSOR AMOS EATON'S 

DIRECTIONS. 

Prof. Amos Eaton, in his Geological and Agricultural Survey of Rens- 
selaer County, New York (1822), alluding to the difficulty of transplanting 
evergreens, attaches importance to the most careful handling and to the keep- 
ing of the roots moist by retaining the soil upon them, or covering with wet 
moss, cloths, &c. They succeed best, according to his observation, when the 
roots were not bent or distorted in planting. They should be cut off at a 
distance of one or two feet from the stem, and taken up without force or 
without wounding the body or limbs. He laid down the rule of never cut- 
ting off a limb until at least a year after transplanting, and of never pruning 
evergreens at first close to the stem. He would leave four or five inches, 
which, after it had withered and died, might be cut loose without injury to 
the wounded part, which should be covered with some kind of adhesive 
paste. 

In selecting evergreens from the woods, care should be taken to obtain 
only those that grew iu open and exposed situations, and, as nearly as might 
be, from a soil in composition, texture and dryness as nearly as possible like 
1;hat to which it is to be transferred. 

Deciduous forest trees require less care, excepting [oak, walnut and ash 
■trees, which require the same treatment as evergreens. 



46 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



EVERGREEN PLANTING IN ILLINOIS AND IOWA. 

Mr. Samuel Edwards, formerly of Mendota, 111., who has an extensive ex- 
perience in planting evergreens, states his belief that the surface soils of 
Iowa and Illinois appear to be well adapted to this class of trees.* He re- 
marks : 

Extensive plantings of pines and junipers may be made with perfect safety on 
sandy soils, and those having a thin layer of porous surface soil. But on such soils 
I would not advise any one to put out plants of less size than one foot in height; 
two foot plants would do better. Excessively dry seasons are almost certainly fatal 
to small plants on such soils. Puddling the roots wilh clay mortar is always advis- 
able when planting out evergreens, hewing sure to have the roots perfectly wet when 
placed in pcjsitiou for covering with dirt. In such soils, too, it is best to set deeper 
than the plants stood in the nursery. In moist localities arbor vitses and spruces are 
perfectly at home. 

In the discussion of this paper the opinion was expressed that the Norway 
spruce was the best ornamental evergreen for Eastern Iowa. The white pine 
has proved healthy, but the Scotch and Austrian pines had been badly in- 
fested with a kind of aphis, which injured the tree. 

In dry soils, evergreens had suffered from drought, but on porous soils they 
had generally grown with success. The relatively dry air of the West, as 
compared with that of Europe, appeared to account for the great difference 
observed with respect to the locations and conditions under whjch evergreens 
will thrive. It was remarked by one who had seen planting operations in 
Europe that — 

Wherever a larch, spruce, or pine can be stai'ted, (even with rock near to the sur. 
face,) the plants grow with a luxuriance we can never attain here under the most 
favorable conditions. The forester there goes to his work of planting coniferous 
seedlings with the plants wnipped up in a dry rag. He makes a hole with a tool 
provided for the purpose, sticks in the plant without regard tc shape or position of 
the roots. The cavity is closed by a movement of the tool and a motion of the foot, 
and the work is done. Yet the plants rarely fail to grow, and that with a vigor 
wonderful to behold on such sterile soil. 



EVERGREEN PLANTING- 



-METHODS AND 
DOUGLAS. 



ADVICE OF MR. R. 



Mr. Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, 111., in a lecture before the Kansas 
State Horticultural Society, sums up the whole substance of success in trans- 
planting evergreens in a few words : "Plant early in the spring ; never al- 
low the roots to become dry; and pack the ground tight, so that they cannot 
shake aboiit or be moved by the winds." He would plant as soon as the 
frost is out of the ground, (first puddling the roots as soon as received,) and 
plant a little deeper than they had; grown in the nursery. The center of the 
hole should be elevated to set the tree on, and the roots should bespread out 
and filled in compactly, and particularly under the tree, so that it will not 
sink. 

In his own practice he sowed the seeds in the spring, until May, in beds 
four feet wide, broadcast, and raked in. The young plants must be shaded, 
the first year at least, by lath, cloth, or brush, and his former practice was to 
lay frames of lath, with spaces as wide as the strips, over the seed-beds. 
Another, and by some regarded as a better screen, is a frame- work of poles 
raised upon posts about six feet high, and covered with brush. He would 

*"Tran8actlong of the Iowa Horticultural Society," 1875, p. 124. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS MANUAL. 4/ 

bed out the plants from three to six inches apart in the rows, and the rows 
twelve to eighteen inches apart, shading the first season, and working with 
the hoe. The earth should be drawn tip to the plants at the last hoeing of 
the season, to prevent heaving out in winter. In two years from planting 
they will be nice stocky trees, averaging about one foot in height, and maj 
then be planted in nursery rows, three or four feet apart, or in shelter belts 
and hedges. Three year old plants, six to nine inches high, may be planted 
immediately into three or four foot rows. His advice in the choice of kinds 
for different situations was as follows : 

For hedges and screens, not iatended to grow higher than eight feet, plant the 
American arbor vitae ; for higher hedges and screens, plant Norway spruce ; for 
wind-breaks, sheltering orchards, &c., plant Scotch pine or Norway spruce. 

For ornamental planting, use Norway spruce more freely than any other ever- 
green. 

I would particularly call your attention to the European or Tyrolese larch, as un- 
doubtedly the most valuable limber-tree for extensive planting, combining the dur- 
ability of the red cedar with rapidity of growth, extreme hardiness, freedom from 
disease, and adaptability to almost every variety of soil.* 

EVERGREEN SEEDLINGS— OBSERVATIONS OF H. M. THOMP- 
SON, OF SAINT FRANCIS, WIS. 

Losses have very often been experienced in transplanting evergreen seedlings, 
and these have often been attributed to the fact that they had been grown in 
the shade ; but this result, Mr. Thompson thought, was not wholly due to the 
sudden transition from shade to sunlight, but to other causes, such as the 
pulling up of the plants, instead of diggijig with a spade, imperfect packing, 
and exposure of the roots to the air. It is well known that shade is one of 
the most essential requirements of a young evergreen plant, enabling it to 
retain an equable volume of moisture, and preventing evaporation from the 
soil. In order to ascertain what would be the result of exposure to full sun- 
light, in the spring of 18'74 he had removed the screens from several beds of 
one-year-old Norway seedlings and Scotch pines, and from two-year-old Aus- 
trian pines and arbor vitsas. During May and a part of June, the moisture 
was sufficient for a fine growth, and favorable to the development of buds and 
ripening of the wood. But for five successive days in July, the heat was ex- 
cessive, rising from 98 to 103 degrees: the surrounding objects tended to hin- 
der a free circulation of air, and the heat and evaporation must have been 
excessive. 

In autumn it was found that the loss of the Norway spruce was about 
fifteen per cent., arbor vita3 fifteen per cent., Scotch pine less than half of 
one per cent., Austrian pine no loss. The loss of the former of these was 
attributed to the fact that the lateral roots of these species of seedlings 
grow nearer the surface, and are, therefore, more liable to injury from heat 
and evaporation^ In August of the same year he transplanted 10,000 Scotch 
pines from the beds that had been exposed, with a loss of less than half of 
one per cent. In June and July, 1873, he transplanted about 30,000 Nor- 
way spruce, two to six inches in height, without loss ; these tx-ansplantings 
being at an unusual season of the year, but in a cool, damp atmosphere, and 
in a wet soil after a rain, the June and July transplanted seedlings being 

*" Transactions of the Kansas Slate Horticultural Society,'^ 1872, p. 182. In some localities the larch, 

frowa rapidly, hns <ome to the size of a fine-looking tree before its wood has hardened, and such tim- 
er by no meaus justifies the reputation for durability here given. Our experience with this tr«^e has 
not yet been sufficiently long to enable us to determine how far this valuable property in the timber 
will be acquired by age. | 



48 FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 

sheltered by lath screens, the August planting of Scotch pine having no pro- 
tection until nearly a month after the transplanting was completed. His 
practice had been for years to bed out all seedlings less than six inches in 
height, and protect them the first season with a cheap screen ; larger sized 
seedlings either bedded out or planted in nursery rows and mulched ; the 
loss from drought under this treatment being too trifling to mention. His 
deductions from these observations were — that nursery grown seedlings have 
an ample supply of roots, if properly handled, planted and cared for, and will 
survive and prodvice satisfactory results.* 

ON THE PROPAGATION OF EYERGREENS— EXPEKIENCE OF A 
SUCCESSFUL PLANTER. 

Mr. Samuel Edwards, of Illinois, who has h^d eminent success in planting 
evergreens, at the University course of lectures and discussions, held at 
Rockford, 111., in February, 1870, made the following statements conceruiug 
the handling of evergreens : 

I have had a good many year's experience with evergreens. Growing them from 
seed in ordinary seasous on our prairies is rather difficult. A v/et season like the 
last, is better, but as a rule, those who are inexperienced had better buy their trees. 

To grow evergreens, soil that is about one-third smd, with some meld, should be 
used. The seeds should be covered once or twice tlieir diameter. They should be 
sown eaily to prevent their "damping off." This arises from excess of moisture in 
hot weather. We sow on dry sand to checlc it. 8ow the seeds in beds four feet 
wide ; about two pounds of the seeds of the European larch, or of the pines, to the 
square rod. Cover the young plants with leaves the lirst winter. Leave the plants 
two years in the beds before transplanting. Birds are fond of the seeds and must 
be watched. In getting trees from the forests, plant them as quickly as possible, 
and put a shade of latlis over them. Plant tliein closely in the bed ; leave them in 
the bed generally two years, and then plant the rows two and a half feet apart ; put 
the trees close together in the rows. We sowed our seeds last year at Green Bay. 
The atmosphere is not so dry there ; the birds are the only trouble. I prefer to 
plant evergreens when in a state of rest, but they can be moved in a moist day until 
late in the season. In that case I would plant Lite in the evening, water heavily, 
and protect them the next day from the sun. Trees for belts I place ten feet apart 
in the row, and break the joints with the next row. 

lied cedar has generally succeeded pretty well until three or four years ago. 
Hemlock is grown best in partial shade. The American yew is fine in the shade. 
It is similar in leaf to the European, and to the hemlock. It is propagated readily 
from cui tings in the shade late in May. The Norway spruce will bear shearing 
well, as ali^o the arbor vilse. 

[In answer to queries.] When the branches are too thick, taking out the alter- 
nate branches often does very well. It will answer to move seedlings that have 
not been transplanted, if you are careful. I would just as soon have trees from the 
woods ; but they must be carefully handled, and be small ones, not more than four 
to twelve inches in height. Red pine is difficult to handle. Austrian pine is at- 
tacked by a fungus. I tiud it here at Rockford. [Siberian arbor vitse does very well 
here. In the shade it roots readily from cuttings made with a part of the last year's 
wood left on.t 

Mr. Edwards, in an article published in the Iowa Agricultural Report of 
1871 (page 346), explains more fully some points of his method in propagat- 
ing evergreens and larches : 

The beds are made four feet wide for convenience of weeding. By sowing so 
early, the plants attain the woody tibre before hot weather, which is so fatal to the 
plants while young. The beds when sown may be covered with damp moss., rags, 
or something of the kind ; this is to be closely watched, and removed when the 
plants begin to show themselves. Arbor vitae, and many varieties of juniper, are 
readily grown from cuttings four to six inches long, taken off in May or the fore 

*" Transactions of Wiscousiii State Hortioultural Society." Id75, p. 90, 
f "Transactions Brit. Asso. Sci.," 1836, p. 104. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 49 

part of June, with an inch or two of last j^ear's wood, and planted two-thirds of 
their length in the ground, the lower end in j)ure sand. Cuttings of this kind, and 
of small plants of evergreens, should be shaded in time of extended drought, and 
should receive a liberal watering every two or three weeks, followed, before the sur- 
face dries, with a mulching of dry forest leaves, sawdust or other litter. The idea 
formerly so prevalent that evergreens were more difficult to transplant successfully 
than deciduous trees, is not sustained by extended experience. It is now generally 
known that the roots of evergreens must never dry in the least while out of the 
ground. Transplanting can be done from opening of spring until time of bursting 
of the buds. Even after growth of an inch has taken place, they may be success- 
fully planted if the roots are grouted as soon as they are taken from the ground, 
and well watered and mulched when planted. Shading the tops when late planted 
makes success still more certain. Early planting is always advisable. In time of 
severe drouth large specimens, at other times nearly certain to die, may be safely 
transplanted if the work is carefully dune and the tops are watered each evening. 
From the time when the terminal buds are formed until the middle of September, 
transplanting may be done with safety. In an extreme instance, I had good success 
withal.tof thirty or forty from the forests of Colorado, planted at their airival, 
just at the opening of winter, by covering with leaves so deep as almost if not en- 
tirely to exclude the frost. It has been generally supposed that late fall planting of 
evergreens, or taking up plants in the fall and pn serving them for early spring 
planting or shipmenT, could not be done. Robert Douglas & Son, of Waukegan, 
111., however, have for two past winters kept millions of young plants in their 
frost-proof lighted greenery with the most perfect success. Their discovery or use 
of this mode is of great value, for those wanting trees sent south can thereby plant 
much earlier, and have them established and growing before the dry, hot weather 
comes on. 

Immense quantities of evergreen plants will be in demand during the next few 
years in the prairie States, Our people, thus far, have only thought of planting 
them for ornamental trees on the lawn, or for screens. But timber culture in ear- 
nest is about to begin. European larch and the pine will doubtless be planted ia 
immense numbers. From experience in planting larches four to six feet high in 
the fall, it is mv opinion that we shall eventually adopt the plan of setting out our 
two-year and older larches at that season. If small mulch liberally. _ When set ia 
spring, they ought to be put out very early, as they start the first thing in spring. 
They do not thrive unless planting is done before starting. 

Many evergreens were injured by the unprecedented freeze of last October, ia 
conjunctit)n with the excessively wet season. This conclusion seems probable from 
the' fact tliat evergreens in very dry situations were almost entirely exempt from 
injury. . While tree planters regret losses from casualties of this kind— to the mea 
wh(jse hearts are in the business, such drawbacks act only as incentives to increased 
diligence in the good work. True manhood, it has been well said, is only devel- 
oped in bravely meeting, and, under God, overcoming obstacles. 

MANAGEMENT OF THE PINE TEIBE.* 

At the sixth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science (183G), a papej- from John Nuttal, of Tittour, county of \Vicklow,was 
read on this subject. Having noticed that almost all the plants of Finns syU 
vestris and other species, when planted in a light clay slate soil, on exposed 
situations, grow too rapidly, or out of proportion to their roofings, and there- 
by become loind waved, and that those which, by accident, had lost their lead- 
ers, took a strong hold on the ground, he commenced a series of experiments 
as follows: In the spring, when the buds were fully developed, he went over 
those that were suffering from the foregoing causes, and broke off all the 
buds except those on short branches. By this process their upward growth 
is checked for a year, the trunk increases in bulk, and the plant roots much 
more freely than if the shoots had been allowed to grow. New buds are 
formed during the summer, and in the following spring these plants present 
the most vigorous aspect. 

•"Trannactions Brit. Asso. Sci.," 1836, p. 104. 



50 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

The larch he cuts down to a strong lateral branch, on the -windward side, 
■when possible. These soon begin to spread their roots, increase in size simi- 
larly, and ultimately become choice trees. In some instances he had cut 
them down a. second time, when he found it necessary, and with equally good 
effect. 

PLANTING OF WILD EVERGREENS IN IOWA, AS RECOM- 
MENDED BY D. W. ADAMS. 

The following suggestions upon the planting and care of evergreens, by D. 
W. Adams, Esq., of Waukon, Iowa, is founded upon experience, and is wor- 
thy of attention.* 

I have practiced, the following method of taming wild evergreens, with perfect 
success: At the proper season for transplanting, proceed to the grove where the 
young plants are abundant, well furnished with common boot or other convenient 
sized boxes, moss, pruning-knife, spades and buckets. Make a puddle of rich earth 
and water; as fast as the plants are raised, prune away the dead and deformed 
branches, dip the roots in the puddle, and pack upright in the boxes, with damp 
moss among the roots, and so continue until the box is crowded as full as possible. 
But one tier should be put in a box. Then nail a few slats on the top, but be sure 
and Iiave plenty of ventilation, as there is great danger of their heating if the boxes 
are closed to tightly. As fast as the boxes are filled, place them in a cool, shady 
place till all are full ; then load them on a wagon and lose no time in taking them 
.to their destination, where, of course, they should be planted without dela}^ in ac- 
cordance with the direction given for seedlings. If your plants are taken from a 
situation mucli shaded, which is not advisable, it will be well to give them a little 
shade during the first summer. AVhen young evergreens are taken from the for- 
ests, it is seldom advisable to plant them at once in their permanent location. 
Usually they are poor, weak, straggling things, notatall ornamental. They should 
be taken from the wood to the nursery, where, after receiving from two to four 
years' careful culture, as described for seedlings, they will become of a rich, dark 
green color, the foliage will become dense, and the form symmetrical. Then they 
are prepared to come out and display their charms upon the lawn, or show their 
usefulness and beauty in the grove or screen. 

SELECTION OF VARIETIES IN PLANTING EVEEGEEENS IN IOWA. 

The varieties of evergreens adapted to the climate of our State (Iowa) are not very 
numerous, but most of them have more or less good qualities to recommend them. 
Of course, before selecting his varieties, the planter will decide upon the object to 
be attained by the planting. If his object be shelter, he will choose strong, rapid- 
growing varieties, that are cheaply procured and easily transplanted. If he is grow- 
ing a gi ove for timber, wood, or fencing, he will, of course, keep in view the par- 
ticular object for which they are intended, and select accordingly ; while for orna- 
ment alone, he would make a very different selection. Perhaps a word or two de- 
scriptive of some of the more valuable kinds would not be out of the way 

First on the list for general usefulness, I place the Norwa3^ spruce. It is easily 
transplanted, of rapid growth, fine form, and grows to a large size. It makes a very 
ornamental hedge or screen, is a fine single tree on the lawn, or a shelter belt impen- 
etrable to the wind. Scotch pine is easity transplanted, grows rapidly while young, 
and makes a strong, spreading tree, that always gives satisfaction to planters. I 
know of no evergieeu that will make a shelter so quickly, and the young trees are 
very ornamental. Austrian or black pine is everj^ way a much finer tree than the 
Scotch, except that while young it is a slower grower, and is more impatient of re- 
moval. A large Austrian pine, clothed in its garb of rich, dark green, standing up 
unscathed against our fiercest and coldest wintry blasts, looks the very impersona- 
tion of sturdy vigor and health. White pine has many friends, and is the most val- 
uable of all the pines as a lumber tree. It is of rapid growth, has beautiful light 
green soft foliage, but is rather diflicult to transplant. Red cedar is a tree of moderate 
growth, easily transplanted, valuable for screens, and invaluable for posts, as the 

•"Iowa Horticultural Reports," 18fi7, p. 16. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 5 1 

'wood is very durable. White cedar or arbor vita3, is also useful for ornament and 
screens, but will not be largely planted. The native spruces, when they can be pro- 
cured cheaply, are of much value, and may be extensively used iu groves or other- 
wise. Balsam fir is probably the least valuable of all 1 have mentioned. While 
joung, it is quite ornamental, and is easily transplanted, but it soon becomes shabby, 
is comparatively short-lived, and the wood is of very little value for anj^ purpose 
whatever. 

TRANSPLANTING OF LARGE EVERGREENS AND OTHER LARGE TREES, 

AS RECOMMENDED BY MR. D. C. SCOFIELD, OF 

ELGIN, ILL.* 

Large nursery-grown, oft-transplanted trees, may be removed with as much cer- 
tainty of their living as small ones. The hardy evergreens, such as Norway spruce, 
Scotch Weymouth (or white), and black Austrian pines, may be removed from the 
height of twelve to eighteen feet as safely as from two to four feet. The method 
of removing is the same as of small trees, and they have no more need of a large 
ball of earth to secure their growth than a plant of twelve inches. Tiue, they must 
be taken up with great care to preserve the roots from breaking on being moved, 
or from exposure to a dry atmosphere, and when set^ especial care must be taken to 
keep the roots in their natural position, thoroughly packing the esirth among all 
the roots with the fingers, so as to exclude the air and retain moisture. This should 
be done b^^ suspending the tree in the hole, which should be made sufficiently large 
not only to receive the roots of the tree, but also the planter to readily get to his 
task. The earth must be in as fine tilth as for planting corn, and must never'be wet 
or muddy, and when thus pLmted the earth around should be pressed thoroughly 
"with the feet, and when well planted, a quantity of coarse mulching of rotten straw, 
leaves, or better, spent tan-bark, should be put around the tree and cover the sur- 
face from two to four feet on all sides, and from three to six inclies in depth ; but 
do not pack too closely against the trunk of the tree. Three strong stakes six feet 
high should be set four or five feet from the tree at equal distances from each other. 
A collar or band should be fixed around the tree five or six feet from the ground, to 
"which strong hay bands should be fastened, and then to each stake a piece of fence- 
wire, which will not shrink or expand. 

In the transit, the roots should be secured with moist, fine straw, hay or mess, so 
that they shall not at all lose their native condition. When the tree is thus set, a 
few pailful is of water maj^ be poured upon the ground so as to settle it, as if a great 
rain hud done the work. When dry spade up often, and mellow the soil to give 
the air circulating and condensing room in hot weather. Then replace the mulch- 
ing about the tree. The less of earth retained in which the tree formerly stood the 
better, as from it the substance or nutriment necessary to feed the tree is entirely 
exhausted, and the myriads of feeding roots running off in every direction have 
been left in the ground. To retain the entire ball as when removed in the forest, 
would be to not only stop the growth of the tree, but to starve it to death before the 
fibi'ous roots could extend far enough to procure necessary food. I have had lai-ge 
evergreen trees stand thus, scarcely living for three or four years, and only from 
freely feeding the ball with liquid manure were they kept alive ; for in our ignor- 
ance we supposed we must remove as much earth as possible to make an evergreen 
live. We now send our large trees off by the car load, that are several days on the 
transit, and yet all are reported to live. 

The difference between the forest-grown evergreen and the nurserj'-grown is, the 
former haS bat few roots, the latter has them in great abundance, and numerous in 
proportion to the number of times it has been transplanted, by which a great mass 
of central roots hold in their custody, with what may be called "a death grasp," a 
quantity of earth, while the former will retain none. The tree also makes a more 
compact shade and more beautiful for oft transplanting. Perhaps no tree in the 
"Whole forest family is more tenacious of life when rightly handled, and in the right 
season, than the evergreen, and no tree is more sure to die from improper exposure. 
The sap of the evergreen is resinous, and coagulates in the sun's heat as soon as 
the bark of the root becomes warm in a dry atmosphere, and cannot be dissolved 
by any application whatever ; the flow of life is obstructed and consequently the 
tree dies, l^ut let the roots be kept moist, the great supply of resin in every de- 

*" Report of iQ-wa, State Horticultural Society," 1857, p. 22. 



52 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



partment of the tree more active and abundant from its ever-living foliage, every 
leaf of which, forming a part of the active life-giving influence, becomes more 
tenacious of life than any other tree. Pine trees were taken from my ground last 
spring, each one of which tilled a lumber wagon box, and only one could be carried 
in the load, and yet grew apparently as well as if left standing in their native bed, 
though not as much. There have been many hundreds of large trees talcen annu- 
ally from ray grounds, and yet only in the case of bad treatment have any perished. 

To the above the secretary adds a remark, that, it is highly important be- 
fore setting trees that have had their roots puddled, to dip them in water to 
dissolve or soften the soil that has dried upon them. If received late iu 
the fall, he advises that they be heeled in in a sloping position just before 
the ground freezes, the soil being finely mingled with the roots and between 
the tops, and thus cover them completely. If planted in the fall they will 
usually dry out, especially in a snowless winter, and all living circulation^ 
except in the roots alone, will be thereby forever stopped. He adds as his 
experience, that the white pine is one of the easiest and safest of all ever- 
greens to plant. 

MISTAKES IN PLANTING FOR ORNAMENT.* 

In planting for ornament, a want of taste is often exhibited in arranging the 
specimens. A little careful thinking before commencing operations will often 
avoid after regrets over our mistakes. It is a mistake to plant trees too close to our 
dwellings. It is a mistake to plant all trees in parallel lines, as the}^ look si iff and 
repulsive to the eye. Still, one row running parallel to the public road is admissi- 
ble ; but in this case do not plant them too near together, so as to obstruct a view of 
the road when they attain size and age. We may also suggest that obstruction of 
desirable points of' view should be considered in all our planting of trees. Plant 
the inside rows in graceful curved lines, with here and there a group of from eight 
to ten acres. Plant only one variety of trees in each group ; but do not plant all 
the trees in curves and groups. Single specimens, properly distributed, are objects 
of interest to the eye, and where the size of grounds permits, eight or ten trees in a 
circle present a tine appearance. Do not mix deciduous trees with evergreens iu 
groups, rows or circles. It gives a mixed, broken expression to the lawn in winter. 
While we may imitate nature in our groupings, yet it is a part of the ait of prairie 
and city lawn making to modify, and even improve on nature's capricious modes of 
planting and arranging. 

The preceding pages concerning evergreens aiford much valuable informa- 
tion to the tree-planter ; and this branch of the subject would now be- 
allowed to drop had we not something in the way of a Minnesotian's expe^ 
rience in this branch of forestry. ,. . ^ -;!^ 

The following paper, entitled a "Plea for the Evergreen," was prepared 
expressly for this work, at my urgent solicitation. Having personally known 
the author, Mr. Kepner, for many years, as an unusually successful tree- 
planter, as a practical, conscientious man, and as one of the most successful 
horticulturists in Minnesota, I regard this Minnesota experience, as given 
by Mr. Kepner, of great practical value, and very appropriately entitled 
to a place among these pages. 



A PLEA FOR THE EVERGREEN. 

Of the delightful prospects to be seen on our prairies, in the summer, no 
Minnesotian need be told ; the older settlements, dotted as far as the eye can 
reach, with beautiful groves of young timber, ranging, in size, from the 
clump of a few s})ecimens, to the tract of twenty acres, or more.s^ Theso 

'♦From a report by Samuel Bowers, with discussions thut followed. "Iowa Hort. Report," 1875, 
page 97. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 53 

groves have nearly all grown up, witliin the memory of the older settlers, and 
have transformed, what was then a monotonous landscape, into a country so 
beautiful that it seemed a blessed privilege even to live in it. 

Now let us look at this same picture in the winter. We drive along over the 
same country ; but how everything is changed ! This is the same road ; here 
are the same farm houses ; here are the same groves ; but they are leafless, — 
and there is no color to brighten up the view ; and there is scarcely any- 
thing to obstruct the fury of the fierce winds ! We are disappointed ! We 
thought these farmers had wind-breaks — about their habitations. So they 
had in the summer, when the necessity for them was not apparent. And we 
drive over many weary miles of this kind of country; but we must acknowledge 
that it is very cold ; and notwithstanding the many fine buildings which we 
see on every hand, the country has not that home-like aspect which has ling- 
ered in our memory since our summer visit. 

But here, at last, we find a different scene. The atmosphere has changed, 
—it appears to us by contrast, — to that of Indian summer. We hear the 
wind howling in the air overhead, but we do not feel it as we did ; but, now, 
what is che matter ? 

Here are some hundreds of evergreen trees, disposed in groups and belts, 
about a farm house, which we find, on inquiry, to have been transplanted 
from the forest a dozen years ago, by the proprietors own hands, at no ap- 
preciable expense, save the few days work then, with additions of other trees 
since, from time to time, an occasional day of loving care and attention after- 
wards. Here we have a green landscape, a bit of summer in the middle of 
•winter. 

Nothing very fine yet, it is true, but promising much in the future ; but 
still enough to add much to the attractions of the home ; enough to reduce 
the cost of winter's fuel quite noticeably ; enough to shelter every living 
thing about the place in the coldest storms, of the coldest winters ; and, 
enough to repay the planter many times its cost in beauty alone, for "a thing 
of beauty is a joy forever," and is worth striving for, even on a farm. 

And it is to the e.ye, — to the love of the beautiful, to which we must large- 
ly appeal to make farm-life more attractive, and this keeps the boys and girls 
on the homestead, instead of going to town; for we mvist acknowledge that in 
home adornment, our city friends are far ahead of us. 

The foregoing is no fancy picture,, and the object of this paper will be to 
induce the farmers of Minnesota to assist, and to try to show them how they 
may assist in greatly multiplying the bright side of this picture. Or, in 
other words, that in planting about the home, many evergreens should be 
used for the groundwork ; and a few decid uous ones for variety, instead of 
many cottonwoods, <fcc., &c. and a few evergreens as now; that is to reverse, 
in a measure, the usual order of planting about the house and grounds, in 
this our cold and bracing climate, and thus have shelter and beauty in the 
winter, when both will be more appreciated than they are in the summer. 

When it is taken into consideration how easily the different kinds of na- 
tive varieties are transplanted, and how very fast some of them grow, in 
almost any kind of soil, we are greatly astonished in traversing the country, 
to see how very few people have availed themselves of the bountiful supplies 
which nature has furnished in many parts of our State, and which can be had 
merely for the trouble of digging. And when these are not available, we 
can have recourse to those of nurserymen, who make a specialty of evergreens; 
or to those persons who advertise in our agricultural and horticultural jour- 
nals, to furnish forest seedlings, in any desir-ed qxiantity, either of which par- 
ties will furnish enough to shelter a home for a very few dollars. 



54 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

VARIETIES. 

That sort which is found to succeed beat in your locality, is the sort most 
largely to plant. For instance: In this part of the State, (in east Olmstead 
county,) there is nothing like the white pine. We have planted a hundred 
fold more of this than of any other variety. One on the lawn, twelve inchea 
high when planted, thirteen (13) years ago, measures to-day, with tape-line, 
eight inches from the ground, forty-one (41) inches in circumference, and 
tweuty-one (21) good long paces around the lower tier of branches. The 
pines, — Austrian, Scotch and black, are all good. So is red cedar and arbor 
vitaa. So, also, is balsam fir. But it is not desirable to enumerate, as each 
one will be obliged to content himself with siich as will be best adapted to 
his needs. The impoi'tant business is to plant, and to do the work with care, 
when in nearly all cases there will be success. The per centage of loss with 
me is no larger in evergreens than in cottonwoods, or any other variety of 
deciduoiis trees. 

PKEPARATION OF SOIL, PLANTING, &C. 

Any soil that will grow a good crop of wheat, will be suitable for ever- 
greens. It must be well prepared, — deeply plowed, and finely pulverized. 
It may be last season's breaking, or the oldest land on the farm ; there is 
very little difi'erence, but in either case it ought to be mellow and in good 
heart. A good plan is to prepare a strip, where there is to be a permanent 
wind-break, on the north or west side of the lot, which it is desirable to im- 
prove; and '^for two rows of trees, of large growing kinds, as the pines or 
spruces, about twelve (12) feet wide; for smaller growing sorts, ten feet will 
do. In this strip mai'k out two rows, or draw two lines five (5) feet apart 
for the large, or four (4) for the smaller growing kinds. 

Now we are ready for the trees, and if they are to come from the forest, 
we choose a rainy, or at least a cloudy day in the spring, (never in the fall,) 
just about the beginning of seeding ; or, if time is no object with you, wait 
till the buds swell, (don't wait till they have grown,) the time of which will 
vary nearly a month, in the different varieties. This is the very best time to 
move all sorts of evergreens, although we know that an expert can trans- 
plant them successfully at almost any season of the year. Take your wagon, 
a few wet horse-blankets, to cover the trees as fast as dug, and go to the 
place previously selected, and carefully dig and cover such trees as you wish, 
always reraembeiing, — and I wish to impress this fact ujyon the mind of every 
one who undertakes this business : — that the roots must not be allowed to 
DRY IN THE LEAST, Or be exposed to the sun or wind for a moment, if you wish 
first-rate success, and if the roots should once become nearly dry, throw them 
away at once, as it will only be labor lost to take them home and plant them. 
And also, if you wish to make fine trees in the future, you must be content 
to select small ones now, from two (2) to eighteen (18) inches high; the 
smaller the better. Nursery grown trees may safely be somewhat larger ; 
but even in this case small ones will be best, and they will certainly cost less. 
If you are obliged to use nursery grown trees, select to order your trees 
early; donH be put off till June. Two or three year-old seedlings, which will 
be from two (2) to eight (8) inches high, will be most profitable, but if it 
suits your case, get them larger. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 55 

PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 

Raising evergreen seedlings is a very simple and easy process to one who 
understands how to go about it ; but to the novice it is very slow and un- 
satisfactory ; and believing that the time gained by the former, in planting 
trees already grown, will more than compensate for the difference in first cost, . 
even if he should succeed and grow first rate seedlings, I would nob 
advise planters generally to raise their own trees, but will here give, for the 
benefit of those who wish to do so, a method which has succeeded well with 
me: 

Send your order to a reliable seedsman early enough to have your seeds on 
hand by the time the ground will be fit to work in the spring. Make long, 
narrow beds, east and west if possible, not more than two (2) feet wide, 
with eighteen (18) inch alleys between. Sow seed broadcast twice as thick- 
ly as you would sow oats, (five or six bushels to the acre,) and cover nearly 
one (1) inch deep by sifting over them good, mellow soil with a coarse sieve. 
It will be a good plan, if you have time, to prepare your beds in the fall 
previous, so that the seeds can go in early in spring, as it is quite impor- 
tant that the young plants should have a good start before hot weather sets 
in. Having the seed in the ground, the next thing will be to stick brush 
(evergreen will be best but others will do) along the south side of the bed, 
to partially shade them, so that the sun will not shine long at a time upon 
any one place; as, without this shading, the young plants will be scorched 
nearly as fast as they come up. If the weather is dry, the ground must be 
well soaked once a week. But if the weather should be wet, it must not be 
kepi: too moist or too much shaded after the plants are up or they will rot. 
If they appear likely to do this, a little dry road dust sprinkled on them, if you 
have it on hand, will be a good prevention. We must now keep our beds 
clear of weeds, and the wisdom of having them narrow will be apparent, as 
we can weed them from one side without disturbing the brush. Here our 
seedlings must remain till two (2) years old ; when, if they have done well 
they will usually be from two (2) to eight (8) inches high, and ready for 
transplanting to the nursery. 

In the first fall, with one swmmer's giowth, most varieties will be very 
small, having really only well made their appearance above ground ; and to 
prevent the frost in the following spring iioiu heaving them out, they must 
be covered with brush or straw, or mats ; but take care that you do not make 
a harbor for mice. And to avoid this it would be better not to cover till 
nearly spring. In the first fall after the little seedlings have been trans- 
planted to the nursery rows, the earth should be drawn abovit them, (early in 
the spring will do) so that the alternate freezing and thawing shall not heave 
them out. In the second summer tliey will not need shading, only keep 
them clean, and if the weather is dry, water as in the first season. (Propa- 
gating evergreens by any other method than seeds is impracticable for gene- 
ral use.) 

Now, having o\vc ground prepared and the trees on hand, we proceed to 
plant them about a foot apart in the rows, as carefully as we would so many 
cabbage plants — putting them in the ground as deeply as their size will per- 
mit, and if the ground is at all dry, watering them thus : After planting 
and half filling the holes of a dozen or more with fine dirt, go back and pour 
•water enough into each hole to completely soak the ground about the roots ; 
then, when the water all soaks away, fill up with dry, fine earth, and thus 
continue to do till all are planted. 

Never water on the surface, as this bakes the ground. Having now plant- 



56 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

ed all our trees, we have nothing more to do but to keep them clean with 
hoe and cultivator, as we should keep so many rows of corn, till harvest 
time, when they may be let alone lill fall, when they should be weeded 
again. We never mulch small trees when we have them in rows so that they 
can be cultivated, without the soil is very sandy, aad then only in an exces- 
sively dry time. 

We have now established a nursery from which to draw, from year to 
year, as we may need them to set about the house and barn, or to sell to our 
neighbors — remembering that we must leave enough for our wind-break, and 
that for this purpose they should be all of one variety ; that is, that each 
wind-break should be of one kind of trees, as two or more kinds do not look 
•well, even if they should grow as well, which they will not. They should 
be about five feet apart in the rows for the larger growing kinds and four for 
the smaller, and stand thus : .•.'.•.. zigzag like a worm fence. In trans- 
planting larger specimens to the lawn or grounds greater care must be taken 
to preserve as many roots as may be, and if possible, to take up a good ball 
of eai-th with each one ; and also, if the roots seem to be few, shortening 
the branches as we would those of any other trees, except in the case .of 
those trees — like the pines — which grow only from the ends of the branches. 
Here we must not cut the top tier of branches, nor the main leader. Large 
trees should have large holes, and be well watered — the same as our small 
trees — and well mulchGd with rotten stable manure; as in this case mulching 
■will be much better than cultivation. If the position is espo-^ed to the 
wind, a good plan is to stay the tree with three small wires, one end of each 
fastened to the body of it with a leather strap, or some other soft material 
which will not inj Lire the bark, and fasten the other ends to the ground with 
pegs for a year or two till the roots have firmly taken hold. 

Trees of alruost any size can be successfully transplanted if the necessary 
time and care be taken, but such trees are very costly, and would be entirely 
unavailable. 

For the general planter, and, where fine specimens are to be the result, the 
small ones will be far the best, ever]/ time, even if there is no diflference in 
the cost. 

For a forest, the trees can be as large as you desire to handle, as the object 
here is to grow a straight, tall trunk and not side branches, as is the case in 
our ornamental trees and wind-breaks, and they should be set in check-rows, 
about four feet apart each way, so that they can be cultivated with horse 
power, like corn, aad when they grow to such size that it is no longer possi- 
ble to cultivate them, we can remove every other tree, leaving them quincunx, 
and when they again become too thick take out the center one of each five, 
wlien they will be e;ght feet apart each way, and will be about right for our 
permanent forest. 

Political economists now assure us that the limit of the wooden age will 
have been reached in about fifty years, if there is not something done to 
arrest the ra{)id destruction of our forests generally, and more especially of 
oxir pine forests, whose products enter so largely into the construction of 
almost everything in the country — in fact, affect almost all industries di- 
rectly or indirectly. We cannot see any plan by which this necessary destruc- 
tion can be stopped, nor would it be desirable so long as on this very destruc- 
tion depends the welfare of so many of our population. Of the unnecessary 
waste of these products, it is not in our province now to speak ; but we would 
urge upon congress to take some effective measures to forestall the conse- 
quences of this waste and destruction, by offering a premium, if need be, to 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 57 

every land-owner in the Union whose soil and climate will be suitable for 
growing pine timber, not only in the new, but in the older States as well, 
and thus, if not put off till the end shall have really coma, the supplies can 
be kept up, ad infinitum. Some of the older people of the world have thus 
kept up their supplies, aad why not us? If the government can not see 
this, let every individual who has the welfare of his country at hearty do 
what in him lies to promote this good cause ; and as there is nothing in the 
world that succeeds like success, every piue tree seen flourishing on our 
prairies will be a sure incentive to some one to go and plant another ; and 
thus, as the perfectly simple conditions of success begins to be ixnderstood 
there will be no trouble to induce people to plant evergreens. 

Let no one be deterred from planting an evergreen forest by the fear that 
they will grow too slow. The native pine here has grown forty feet in 
twenty-five years, and with good cultivation, the same variety has grown 
much faster even than this ; so that if the first settlers had planted pine 
forests, they could now be cutting all the smaller timbdrs for the large barns 
which they are building at this time, and for which the timber comes long 
distances by river and rail. 

AFTER CARE. 

Having brought our trees through the first season all right, we are apt to 
congi-atulate ourselves that our work is done. On the contrary, here is just 
"where many planters suffer shipwreck. Now is just the time to make or 
mar the beauty of our trees, if we wish them to be what evergreens ought 
to be, with branches sweeping the ground, in all the luxuriance of full 
foliage. In order to attain to this perfection of form and foliage it is neces- 
sary to keep down every vestige of weeds and grass while the tree is making 
its new growth, as the young shoots are then very tender, and those in con- 
tact with the grass will be smothered. This can best be attained by thor- 
ough cultivation where we have them in rows. After a tree has attained its 
annual growth, say about the fourth of July, it will be able to take care of 
itself; yet, if time can be had, it will be well to knep all grass and weeds 
away from it always. For trees on the lawn which are not yet large, a good 
plan is to invert the sod with the spade to the depth of three or four inches 
each spring, say in May, six inches to a foot outside the lower limbs. This 
keeps the ground mellow, and also, for a time, kills the grass ; but this plan 
will only be allowable in good, rich soil, and will not do at all in sand. Here 
we must mulch with good rotten stable manure, and to get the full benefit of 
it, the operation should be performed every fall, and if too much material 
should accumulate, scrape away the old before applying the new. And this 
mulching is not understood as it should be. We must not pile up little con- 
ical heaps of stuff about the stem, but spread it out beyond the lower branches 
six inches or a foot, quite thickly on the outside, and growing thinner as it 
approaches the center, where it is not necessary to have anything, as the 
foliage itself will keep that part of the earth moist ; and thus we have a 
kind of reservoir, in the middle of which is the tree, and which will retain 
the moisture which falls on the branches. In this way we keep the soil rich 
and loose for the small rootlets, wliich will always be found to extend further 
out from the trunk than the branches, and, of course, these must be fed if 
we wish the tree to prosper. 

After lawn trees, in good soil, have grown to large size, say twenty feet 
and upwards, it is only necessary to attend very carefully to keeping down 



58 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

the grass, mowing once in ten days till the tree has attained its annual 
growth, which will be as before stated, about the fourth of July. If the 
soil is poor and the tree does not seem to do well, a good plan is to mulch 
heavily with good rich manure in the fall, and remove again in the spring, 
after the rains shall have washed the substance of it into the ground. Neg- 
lecting to attend to these things will assuredly, in time, cause the lower 
branches of most varieties to die out, and thus give us a poor, scrubby look- 
ing specimen, only fit for the woodpile. 

Having attended to the foregoing suggestions, which are not mere theories, 
but have been deduced from actual experiments, no one need fail. Only 
have faith enough in your work, and in youi-self, to go about it as you would 
any other thing in which you desired to succeed, and you will not fail ; and 
at the return of spring you will rejoice to see your beautiful trees put forth 
their delicate young foliage, and continue to do so year by year, until they 
shall have attained to such magnificent proportions that you will have more 
pride and gratification in leaving these as a heritage to your children than 
you will in all the broad and fertile acres which you may have acquired in 
a long and successful life. 

Not only will their graceful foliage gladden your eyes and cheer your heart 
in the spring time, when all nature re-awakes to a renewed activity, but they 
will cheer you in the autumn, when all else is in the sear and yellow leaf ; 
and they will be with you in their shining green all the cold and sombre 
winter long, to keep away the howling storm and brighten up your now 
beautiful prairie home, as nothing else in inanimate nature can ; and all the 
year through their resinous juices will fill the air about you with health-giving 
odors, so that, when at length, in the fullness of time, you shall pass away 
from earth and your children shall succeed you, and their children, in turn, 
shall come upon the scene, generation after generation shall rise up and call 
you blessed for having given them such a beautiful heritage. 

John E. Kepner. 
LitUe Valley, Minn., March 1, 1878. 

The following unusually instructive and every way valuable paper, from 
Mr. J. H. Brown, of Lac Qui Parle, Minn., prepared expressly for the Min- 
nesota State Forestry Association, presents so many important features in 
tree planting as to commend it to all who have any interest in "conquering 
the prairies." Mr. Brown was one of the early settlers of Northern Illinois 
— then, again, an early settler of Olmstead county, Minn., and again, one of 
the pioneers of civilization on our western borders ; a good type of the class 
of men who cause the wilderness "to blossom as the rose ;" and now in his 
old age is successfully battling against, and gradually overcoming all the pri- 
vations and hardships incident to the settlement of a new country — building 
up a beautiful and attractive home — rearing to himself an arboreal monu- 
ment, more enduring than marble, and setting an example all may profitably 
emulate. His young plantation so successfully prosecuted, is already the 
most noticeable feature of the Upper Minnesota Valley, and is the admira- 
tion of every passing traveler. His views in regard to close forest planting 
are commended to the consideration of the "carping critics." "The proof of 
the pudding is in the chewing of the bag-strings." 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 59 

Lac Qui Parle, Dec. 25, 1878. 
Mr. L. B. Hodges, Dear Sir : — 

You wrote me that you wished me to write up my experience on forest 
tree growing. You said that you wanted it to read at the meeting of the 
State Forestry Association. I feel thankful to you for the kind invitation. 
I am fearful, however, that you will be disappointed in consequence of ex- 
pecting more from me than I can give to your association ; for you doubtless 
have men in your association who are far more competent to instruct in your 
deliberations than I am. But since you wish it, I will try to give a few 
thoughts on the planting and growing of forest trees on these treeless prai- 
ries. In order to make a sviccess in growing trees, we must be thorough in 
the preparing of the land before the trees are planted, and after they are 
planted, they need to be well cultivated until they are large enough to take 
care of themselves, and unless this is done, it is of but little use to think of 
growing a forest. The land should be prepared and cultivated in the same 
manner that a thorough farmer prepares and cultivates his land for corn. I 
have had vei-y good success with trees planted the next spring after the land 
was broken, but it requires much moi-e labor. It is better to sow the wheat 
one year, the sod then will be quite well rotted and the trees will grow faster. 

It is quite useless, however, to dwell long on the preparing and cultivating 
the land. If a man generally does his farm work well, he will be quite likely 
to treat his trees the same way, and the result will be a grand success ; but^ 
on the other hand, if the man is in the habit of doing his work slovenly, he 
will treat his trees in the same way, and the result will be a miserable failure. 
As regards to the best kinds of timber to plant on these prairies, I think 
Cottonwood the most preferable. It grows more rapidly than any other tree ; 
next to that is the soft maple. After having planted a liberal amount of these 
two kinds, I should plant the white ash, which, when grown, is the most val- 
uable of any variety of timber we have here, and I regard these three varie- 
ties the only kinds we have here that is worthy of forest culture. But for 
early wind-break, or shelter from the wind and early fuel timber, the cotton- 
wood should have the first attention. Its timber makes very good fuel, espe- 
cially when dry. The white willow as a single row, if we wish to grow a 
live fence, is the only tree plant we have here, as yet that will answer that 
purpose, but I hope to see something better introduced for that purpose. I 
have, however, planted nearly two miles of it on my farm, and had not the 
hoppers kept eating it off for the three years, it would have made a satis- 
factory growth, but thej- kept it back very much ; they likewise clipped the 
outer limbs of the cottonwood, but not as much as the willow. I have used 
mostly cottonwood in planting my groves, and for the most part I have 
planted seedlings of one and two years' growth ; some seasons they are quite 
plenty here, and some seasons there are but f-^w, which was the case last falL 
The seeds fall from the trees from the first of June to July. They fall on 
the water of the rivers and other places of water, they catch on the 
shores and sandbars, and grow up the same season four to twelve inches. 
I have used such plants for the most of my tree planting. But some sea- 
sons that class of little trees are quite scarce here, and in that case we re- 
sort to cuttings. I have sometimes had very good success with them, 
and at other times they have been almost a total failure with me. I have 
heard many men speak of like results, that is when they are prepared and 
stuck in the earth the usual way of doing. I have found by experiment- 
ing that cuttings may be prepared and planted in such manner that 
they will be almost sure to grow and do well, at least they have proved 



60 FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 

a perfect success with me so far as I have tried them, I take the limbs 
from the tree and cut them about six inches in length, leaving one small 
side limb as nearly as may be in the middle of this cutting, cut this back 
to the length of five or six inches. Plant this cutting flat in the ground, 
say about three inches deep, leaving the end of the side limb two or 
three inches above ground. 

In planting, a small trench should be made as deep as you wish to plant 
the cutting. Place the cutting in it, draw over it an inch or more of earth, 
then press firmly with the foot, after which, fill the trench level with mellow 
earth, and you have a cutting planted that will most surely grow rapidly. 

It is a matter of no small importance to us to know how to best arrange our 
forest trees, so as to have them both ornamental and 

useful. I have here drawn a small plat of a farm, " north. 

of one hundred and sixty acres. I thought, when I lii 
planted the trees, that they were quite well arrang- : 
ed. But, pei'haps, some of you can suggest a better i \\ 
plan. If so, please send us a specimen, and we will ; |j 
be glad to see it. This sketch represents a farm as \\\ 
it now is, and I think anyone who carefully looks at \\\ 
this drawing would, if they should chance to pass by ,\\\ 
this farm, see at once that it is a fair specimen of ijj 
the real appearance. You will perceive that these Hi 
several belts of trees are in the aggregate neai'ly ji; 
three miles in length. There are not less than four- :----:■:-■■--- 
teen acres of land in them. The outside row of all 

the lines of trees is thickly set with willows. These are intended for line 
fence. On the south and east side, there are only two rows of shade trees 
planted, as the dots indicate. The southeast corner represents house and 
barn grounds. The open ground a little to the west contains four acres of 
land. I have planted nearly all kind of trees on those grounds. There are 
public highways on all sides of this farm, save on the north. We think it 
quite a nice drive around this farm ; the trees standing, for the most part, 
about sixteen feet high. The forest-belts are planted in rows four feet apart, 
and from two to four feet in the rows. This may seem to some to be quite 
too close; but by so doing they will grow tall and straight with but few side 
branches, and in a few years after planting they will admit of being thinned 
one-half, and those left will be worth more than if jjlanted farther apart at 
first, and the thinnings will make a large amount of fuel to the acre. If we would 
grow tall, straight forest trees, we must have them quite near together when 
small. If too far' apart, then they will take the form of shade trees, having 
short trunks and wide-spreading tops, which are not desirable for a valuable 
forest of timber. Trees planted twelve feet apart, as some are doing, will 
never make a valuable forest. And when would we begin to thin it, in con- 
sequence of its becoming to close on the ground ? I should not look for that 
time to come in my day; for, when we cut one tree we have a space of twenty- 
four feet. If we plant closely, we will have an annual return for our labor a 
number of years before we would think of cutting a tree, if we had planted 
twelve feet apart, ami the trees still left will be of far more value. They 
will not be mere shade trees, having short trunks. They will be tall, straight 
trees, useful for any purpose. There is another benefit derived from close 
planting, for if well cultivated, in two years they will take cai-e of them- 
selves. But, if planted twelve feet, we may keep on cultivating at. least five 
years, and then we have but little value. To grow white ash, I find, by my 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 6l 

experience, that it should stand very close while young, if we make a success 
in growing it on the prairie ; and it is best to plant the seeds where you wish 
them to remain. I think eight inches is far enough apart in the rows. That will 
cause them to grow tall and slender, with but few side-branches. If l«fttoo 
far apart, they grow quite scraggy, I have ash eight feet tall four years after 
planting seeds. It is better to plant in the fall. Some men in this locality 
ai*e planting ash-leafed ma[)le in their groves. It grows quite fast, but is 
rather short lived, and does not grow to a large size ; but, when planted 
alone, it makes a beautiful shade tree. I have used them quite liberally for 
that purpose. It is the first tree that looks green in the spring, and is a very 
ornamental tree. I have none in my forest planting, regarding it of less 
value for that purpose, than most other varieties. We have been vei-y much 
annnyed in this locality by the hoppers. They bite nearly everything they 
lighten; they have entirely destroyed very many small trees. I planted a 
nursery of about ten thousand small Cottonwood seedling trees, intending 
them for transplanting. They looked very promising until late in June, 
wheh the lioppers took possession of the ground, destroying all but about 
fourrteen hundred. They also injured the larger trees very much for the last 
three years. Therefore, their annual growth has been much less than it 
would have been. But yet the growth has been quite satisfactory. I think 
the Cottonwood has made an annual growth of four feet. The maples, two to 
three feet, and the ash still less. We had, also, a beetle or June bug here 
last season, which worked on the ash, nearly destroying the entire growth for 
the season. The young twigs were eaten off and started again three succes- 
sive times. The bugs leaving about the last of June, they sprouted again, 
but it was so late that the growth was but little. I have seen the same bug 
before, but never in such great numbers, and never so destructive. The 
maple, likewise, has nearl}'' all been cut off when quite small, sevei-al years 
in this locality. Some years they are not touched. Five years ago I plant- 
ed quite a large number of seeds for a nursery of trees. They came up very 
nicely, and had about eighty thousand of them. When they were nicely 
above ground, they began to disappear, and in the fall I had only five or six 
thousand ; I called the destroyer a cut worm. We all well know that wo 
are liable to meet with disappointments in any enterprise we may engage in; 
and forestry growing is not 'an exception to the general rule. Notwith- 
standing these disappointments, I have continued to plant a few trees, and 
the result is quite satisfactory. The theory that forest trees could not be 
grown on the open prairie is now proven to be false ; and that of itself is a 
long stride towards the treeing of treeless lands. 

I well remember that only six years ago this winter, when the wind would 
be blowing with all its violence, bringing the loose snow from twenty miles 
west and northward of us, piling it up in huge drifts around like buildings, 
and at times making it unsafe to step out of doors, I then, at times, being 
seated ar'ound a well heated stove, talked about planting trees, under the 
protection of which we could build our houses and barns, and be protected 
from the wind. Some of my boarders would, at times, jokingly remark that 
around this warm stove in a cold, wintry day, was a very good time and 
place to grow such nice forests; they not bt- lieving that it co\dd be done in our 
day. Since then, I heard the same persons express their fullest belief of the 
sure and eaily protection from wind and snow, by planting trees. And such 
is .the case with thousands of men all over the Western States. And now 
that men have faith in tree growing, we may look for forests to spring up all 
over this treeless west, I have observed that some persons make a fatal 



TREl 



mistake in planting a grove around their buildings ; they plant a few trees 
quite near their buildings, and think they have done a very good thing. 
"Well, they have, so far as it goes. But if they go no farther, they will some 
day see that it is not so good after all. This small grove will break the wind 
and stop the snow ; but the snow will be stopped and piled up just where 
they don't want it. Tlieir door yards and barn yards will become filled with 
snow ; or, in other words, they will have no yards visible, and will be quite 
likely to find themselves wishing that they had not planted any trees. Be- 
low, you will see a sketch of ten acres of land, on which is designed to repre- 
sent ten acres on my homestead-claim in the southwest part of the county. 
When I planned and arranged the ten acres, as before shown on my farm at 
Lac qui Parle, I find that I made in that one mistake, at least. You will 
observe, that on the north and west sides of this sketch, I have planted three 
rows of trees, one of willow and two of cottonwood. 

This narrow belt will cause the snow to pile up nokth. 

on the south of the north belt, and on the east of ^:-::::::| 

the west belt, the snow always being blown from = 

the northwest in our severe storms. I have then 

left within these outer south lines several rods in 

width of unplanted land. This open space I call g 

the snow line, and within this snow line, I have ^ > 

planted the main grove, designed to protect my 

building grounds. The southeast part not closely house. 

planted, is designed for house, barn, barn-lot, 

garden and fruit grounds. A plantation arranged south ' 

after this plan will avoid the main grove being 

piled full of, and broken down by the now. This ten-acre plat may 
be located on any part of the farm you please to choose. This plat 
of land is on my homestead claim, which is located about twenty miles 
from Lac qui P.arle, and nine miles northeast of Canby. There are a 
large number of groves planted in the county. I noticed when passing 
over some parts of this county last September, one place where I saw at 
least ten of these artificial groves at one view, showing their dark green 
lines above the rolling prairie. 

I hear many talking about planting trees next spring ; and many more 
will yearly be induced to plant groves when they see their neighbors' 
trees grow so nicely. And at no distant day, this so-called treeless coun- 
try will become the pleasant abode of intelligent and civilized man. 

I wish here to take the liberty to correct a mistake, made by some 
one in regard to the amount of natural forest-timber in the country, I 
have seen it stated in the reports pertaining to timbered lands in the 
western part of our State, that the county of Lac qui Parle has only two 
hundred acres. This is quite far from being correct. Those who best 
know how much there is, say there are at least twenty -two hundred 
acres. Please correct this report when opportunities present. 

We shall expect you will use your utmost endeavor to induce Congress 
to amend the tree-claim act, bringing down to where the man of small means 
may avail himself of its benefits, and causing him to grow a closely -set 
and useful forest, with complete success, instead of an attempt to grow 
forty acres of shade trees, (for it will be nothing more for a long time,) 
and make a sad failure, losing his claim, labor and all. For no poor man 
can support a family, open up his farm, and grow forty acres of timber at 
the same time. This class of men are the only men who will undertake 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 63 

to do it ; the wealthy are not apt to hind themselves to hold a piece of 
land eight years, hefore they can procure title. The premium acts of 
seventy -one and seventy-three, passed hy our State Legislature, were 
very good to encourage growing forest-trees. But the life of these two 
acts was live years in which to plant groves to obtain the premiums. 
We here think that those acts ought to be re-enacted ; and if you think 
so, we cordially invite you to use your co-operative itifluence to induce 
our legislature to renew those acts this winter, and have them run in- 
definitely as to time, when they may be repealed, when they become in- 
operative. I would suggest, however, that no premiums be awarded for 
trees planted in the future, unless they are planted so closely together that 
they will insure a dense forest. 

We can afford to be taxed for the growing of properly planted and well 
cultivated forests. But a forest tree planted sixteen feet apart, as the 
other State acts indicated, is too far apart, — "too thin,'" — to be worthy of 
the imposing of taxes on the people of the State for their support. Per- 
haps I have not been so particular in my remarks about close planting 
as I might have been. I will say a few words more about that part of 
the work. It is of much importance in planting closely, to have the trees 
of uniform size and strength of growth, else the stronger will kill the 
weaker, before they become large enough to be of value for fuel or other 
uses. If we plant a large tree, and then a small, and again a large one, 
as we are quite likely to do, if we don't know any better, the larger trees 
will soon spread their branches over the tops of the smaller trees, which 
will entirely stop the growing any farther of the smaller trees, and they 
might about as well be left out. So long as a tree can keep its head up 
in the sun, it will Continue to reach up still higher. Therefore, it is bet- 
ter that we assort the trees before planting. When we get a large 
amount of trees ready for planting, they will usually be made up of vari- 
ous sizes. We should assort them in three parts, putting the largest by 
themselves, and again, the next largest, and lastly, the smallest by them- 
selves. Plant these three divisions as much as may be by themselves ; you 
will then have planted them so as to cause a uniform growth. If we ob- 
serve these rules in our forestry-planting, we may plant quite closely and 
every tree will grow large enough to be of value before they will require 
thinning. I should be happy to meet with you in your deliberations for 
the encouraging of forest-tree growing. I have noticed with much pleasure, 
the success attending your most worthy efforts for the promotion of a 
cause, which, if properly carried forward, will greatly help to encourage 
tree-planting in all the treeless portion of our State, And, as it must be 
apparent to all, that the entire State will receive more or less benefit by 
your efforts. It is highly gratifying to witness what a great change has 
taken place in the minds of the masses in a few years. 

Six years ago, I one day went to the timber and got a back-load of 
sprouts and brought them up to the house. A little time after I went in 
the store, and one of my neighbors asked me what I intended doing with 
those brush he saw me carrying. I told him that I was going to cut 
them in pieces and stick them in the ground, and grow me a forest of 
timber for fuel and other purposes. He, not believing that these brush 
would grow to trees of value and usefulness in our day, in quite a solemn 
manner remarked that some of us would need a wooden jacket before we 
could grow trees large enough to do us any good. Neither him nor I 
have yet needed a wooden jacket. I have some splendid trees from the 



64 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



brush, but he has not commenced planting yet. He told me last week' 
that if he could have believed that the trees could be made to .gjrovr as 
mine had, he would have had a grove likewise. This man was not alone 
in his unbelief. To-day, men do not believe that forests can be grown, 
and thousands will act according to their faith in the good work. The 
time is not far in the future when I believe this country will be all dotted 
over with groves of forest trees. 

Before I close, I again invite you to use your utmost influence in behalf 
of the tree claim act, the State premium acts, and any and everything 
you can for the benefit of the treeless portion, We are woefully poor, 
financially. The grasshoppers for three years past have used us without 
mercy, and we greatly need the almighty dollar. But I must close, hop- 
ing this will do you no harm, if it should do you no good. . This is from 
an obscure and humble frontiersman. 

J. H. BROWN. 

THE BEECH — FcoQus Sylvatica* 

In all my rambles over Minnesota I have never yet encountered a regu- 
lar old fashioned beech tree — such as are common east of Lake Michigan. 
The water beech is indigenous and common along the river bottoms of 
Minnesota, but of too little value to talk much about. There is a tradi- 
tion of a large beech tree standing, or formerly standing, somewhere near 
the banks of the Mississippi between Hastings and Red Wing, that the 
Indians held in great reverence, and performed many a sacred "pow- 
wow" under its umbrageous shade. 

Whoever succeeds in growing a beech forest in Minnesota will have, 
certainly, the poor consolation of knowing that his life has not been alto- 
gether a failure. It is more than probable that his name would be hon- 
orably enrolled high up in the annals of forestry. I would not view the 
attempt to grow a beech forest in Minnesota as Utopian in any sense. 
Our climate and soil are both good enough, and I do not see any insur- 
mountable obstacles to overcome. 

It is true that the attempts in this direction so far are not encouraging, 
•'but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Try it on after your 
young forests have so far developed as to aflbrd a good shade to the 
young plant. Plant the beech nuts soon after they have dropped, and 
while yet perfectly fresh and sweet, and cover lightly. 

There is no use in planting eastern grown beech trees on the open prai- 
rie ; I do not say they will all die within six months, but I do say the blaz- 
ing sun and drying winds make it mighty tough for them. They need the 
protection of a partially developed forest would naturally give, and with 
such protection success is possible. 

Bryant says : ''The beech is one of the loftiest trees of the American 
forests, sometimes reaching the height of one hundred feet. It occupies 
a wide range of latitude, being found from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. 
It is a stranger to the prairies of Illinois and Iowa. It grows to the 
greatest size in deep, moist soils. * * * The roots of the beech 
run near the surface of the soil, and often appear above it. If the trees 
are felled in winter, they send up a great number of sprouts, so that a 
beech forest is easily renewed. * ♦ * * -pj^g beech can- 
not be recommended as one of the most profitable trees for forest culture; 



I 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 6$ 

nevertheless, it is worthy the attention of those who plant on a large 
scale. 

From Hough's report, page 72, we find the following, which I deem 
useful in this connection : 

The Beech {Fagus sylvatica) is the only hardwood by nature admirably suited for 
growth in unmixed forests. Its leaves, rich in potash, decay easily, and form an 
excellent humus. In high-timber forests, it finds its proper place, growing best 
where the foliage forms an almost unbroken roef, which hinders the sun from dry- 
ing the st)il. Its period is usually 100 to 120 years, being longer on poor soils. It 
is not suited for coppice, because its power of sending up shoots from the stool is 
not great, and their growth is slow ; but in lime soils this power is greater. It oc- 
curs as coppice under standards where the latter throw much shade on the under- 
wood, or where, as in the case of oak standards, the ground should be well shaded 
from the sun. On lime, and the milder clay soiis, it thrives as standards, but it then 
overshadows more than any other tree. Its wood is usually worth less than other 
hardwoods in the market. The beech requires a strong mineral soil, fresh and rich 
in humus. It is often found with the oak on sandy, loamy deposits, if not too dry 
or loo moist ; but on poorer and lighter soils, or in exposed places, it grows slowly, 
and the soil becomes impoverished. The true home of the beech is on lime, basalt, 
and greenstone, if the soil is not too thin. This partiality for lime is shown in the 
smoothness of bark, the straightness of trunks, and their freedom from branches ; 
the annual growth is great, and reproduction by natural means easy. In fresh, shel- 
tered places on lime, the beech bears seeds early, (beginning about the seventeenth 
or nineteenth year), and continues to do so at intervals of three to five years, and in 
abundance. 

THE CHESTNUT, [Cttstenea.) 

I do not propose to recommend this tree for the prairie. More than 
twenty years of unsuccessful experimenting have proved its unfitness. 
During a succession of unusually mild winters it has escaped severe injury, 
but when we get 40° below zero, goodbye to him ! I am inclined to 
think the soil of our prairies is not just the thing for the chestnut, for 
40^* below zero among the mountains of northern New York, don't hurt 
it. I am informed that among the timbered blufi"s, ravines and gulches of 
Allemakee Co., Iowa, and Houston Co., Minnesota, it has proved a success. 
In such localities I would try it on a small scale, but never out on the 
open prairie. 

SOFT MAPLE, [Acer dasycai'pum). 

Not a bad tree for the prairie ; nor as good as many of its friends claim. 
Closely planted in groves, it is well worth cultivating. It is a rapid 
grower, generally healthy and hardy. Found in its native state on nearly 
all the river bottoms. Well cultivated, it produces a large amount of 
very good fuel in a very few years. It pays well to manure this tree. 

For isolated shade trees, although very beautiful, they are not to be 
depended on, as they are pretty sure to split down from the pressure of 
strong winds about the time you begin to think you have something to be 
proud of. Notwithstanding this serious objection, lots of fellows will keep 
right on, all the same, transplanting them from the river bottoms to their 
door-yards. To all such let me say, do7i't cut the tops of. If necessary to 
trim up to bare poles, do so, but always leave the leader as nature made 
it. By so doing your tree is not half so liable to split down. The young 
nursery trees should be kept well trimmed, the lateral branches never 
to be allowed to get any start. 

The seed ripens in Minnesota last of May or first of June. Should be 
picked from the tree as soon as the seeds begin to fall, and should be sown 

5 



66 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

as soon thereafter as possible. The sooner the better. On clean, new 
ground I have seen them do remarkably well, sown broadcast and very 
thick. 

They are usually planted in drills and covered about one inch deep ; 
should the ground be dry, roll it or tramp it down. The seed will sprout 
and the plants will appear about as quick as corn. When the young plants 
first show themselves, shade thoroughly, or the sun will be pretty sure 
to burn them off. Then cultivate frequently till harvest time, and they 
will grow from 8 to 18 inches the first season, and are suituble for trans- 
planting the next spring. 

BOX ELDER, ASH-LEAVED MAPLE, {Acer negundo). 

A good tree for the prairie ; "in favorable situations, becomes a stately 
tree, reaching the height of 50 or 60 feet." It is very hardy, growing as 
far north as 54^*. The finest specimens of this tree I have yet seen, are 
to be found in the valley of the Red River of the North. In rich, moist 
soil, its growth is surprisingly rapid, discounting the soft maple two to 
one. In very dry soil it is short lived ; it yields a wonderful flow of sap, 
from which sugar can be made. The quality of the wood is similar to the 
soft maple. 

As an ornamental tree, its dense, beautiful green foliage, (and if it has 
room to spread itself) its round, symmetrical top renders it an object of 
admiration. The seed ripens in the fall and should be sown soon after. 
I have carried them over till the next spring and then sown, but have 
always had better results from fall sowing; cover the seed lightly, and with 
frequent and clean culture you soon get lots of good trees. 

I believe I have now briefly touched upon all, or nearly all, the desira- 
ble forest trees for our Minnesota prairies. It is not the object, nor is it 
within the scope of this little work to treat upon all the forest trees of 
America. To such persons as may be disappointed in not finding in this 
work a greater range of information, I would respectfully recommend to 
their perusal the works of Sryant, Gray, Warder, Fuller, Michaux, Eve- 
lyn, Berenger, Burgsdorf, Brown, and other eminent authorities. I shall 
now proceed to gather and arrange such items of practical value and in- 
terest, as may seem calculated to promote forestry in Minnesota. 

Prof. William H. Brewer, of Yale College, in an article published in Walker's 
Statistical Atlas, estimates the number of species of woody plants in the United 
States at 800. Of these, upward of 300 indigenous species attain the height of 30 
feet, of which 251 are abundant somewhere, or at least, not rare. In this he exclud- 
ed all smaller trees that never attain a height of r.O feet, and the tropical species 
found on the extreme southern border. Of large trees somewhat abundant, he esti- 
mates 120 species, of which 20 grow 100 feet; twelve, 200, and perhaps five or six 
300 feet in height, or upward. Of these 120, about fifty belong to the couiferse. 
Only a very few species occur across the whole country, from the Atlantic to the Paci- 
jfic. Of these, the aspen {Populus tremuloides) and some of the cottonwoods are men- 
tioned ; but as a rule, there is a marked contrast between the forest regions east and 
west of the treeless belt, the timber of the Rocky Mountains belonging to the 
western rather than the eastern type. New England, originally all wooded, has 80 
to 85 species, of which about 60 grow to a height of 50 feet. The Middle States, 
also originally wooded, have 100 to 105 species, of which 65 to 67 sometimes reach 
a height of 50 feet. The southeastern part, also entirely wooded, has over 130 
species, 7.5 of which grow 50 feet or more, and perhaps a dozen, 100 feet, The 
southw^estern region was characterized by dense forests and open plains, and num- 
bers 112 to 118 species, of which 60 to 75 grew to 50 feet. The northwestern re- 
gion is diversified by prairies, "openings," forests, (some of great extent and densi- 
ty,) and timber belts along the rivers and streams. It contains 105 to 110 species, 
about 68 to 70 of which grow to 50 feet. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 6/ 

Professor Newberry, in his Geological Survey of Ohio (i. 529,) notices several in- 
stances of this relation between rock formations and timber growth. The Cuyaho- 
ga shales, rich in potash, bear a growth of large elms, scattered over this plateau 
as far as the eye can reach ; beech and maples, with thick groves of chestnut where 
the broken rock comes near the surface, mark the horizon of the conglomerate, and 
above this a belt of forests, in which the predominate timber is oak, defines with 
great accuracy the limits of the coal-measures in the noitliern part of Ohio. The 
redwood of California is limited to a peculiar sandstone formation, and the noble 
red cedars of Tennessee to the Glade Limestone, a subdivision of the Trenton Group, 
which extends superficially as a very irregular ring across the central part of the 
State. On subsequent pages we shall have frequent occasion to notice this depen- 
dence of forest growth upon the underlying geographical formations, including, of 
course, the soils resulting from their decomposition. These peculiarities, when un- 
derstood, afford valuable indications that may be followed with profit in attempting 
the cultivation of timber trees. 



SOWING AND PLANTING. 

BY DR. HOUGH. 

We shall endeavor to present in the following pages, such practical 
statement of methods and results of experience as appeared best calcu- 
lated to afford subjects of thought and suggestions for experiment in tree 
planting. The results obtained in one country may be different from 
those in another, but due allowance being made for circumstances, the 
principles of vegetable growth are everywhere alike, and a careful result 
of experience and observation acquire a permanent value. 

SHOULD WE SOW OR PLANT ? EXPERIENCE OP EUROPEAN FORESTERS.* 

Most foresters nowadays resort to planting in preference to sowing in 
beginning new forests. Is this a fashion and mere caprice, or is it the 
fruit of experience and observation ? This question we will proceed to 
examine.' Let us go back a hundred years or more. In 1756, the most 
distinguished German forester of that period, Johann Gottlieb Beckmann, 
published a work entitled Exjyeriments and Experiences upon the necessity 
of sowing Forest Trees. In this work he specified the method of soioing a,s 
alone capable of yielding good results, and as the proper means for re- 
generating a ruined forest. "What shall be said of the method of plant- 
ing ?" he asks; and to this the reply is short and decisive, "It is not a 
good way, and as to resinous species, it is impracticable."! 

Had foresters been satisfied with this positive declaration, there would 
have been no question as to planting within the last hundred years, but 
this has not happened, and they have been compelled to have recourse to 
planting oftener than they wished, perhaps, as they regarded it, to com- 
plete and replace their sowing. They were led to observe that the an- 
cient process of planting left much to be desired, and that it was suscep- 
tible of great improvement, while on the other hand, they found many 
soils to be covered in which sowing afforded but slender chance of success. 
Little by little they gave more attention to the system of planting, and 
had oftener recourse to this method, so that fifty years after the publica- 
tion of Beckmann's book, to-wit: 1805, Burgsdorf thus expressed himself 
in his Treatise upon Forests, in the chapter upon forest plantations: 

♦''Translated from an article by the Baron Manteufifel, grand master of Forests in Saxony. "Revue 
Dm JSaux et F'orets," 1, 147. 

t "Chapter iv, 5 13." 



68 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

"Besides the kinds above meotioned that may be planted on a large scale, 
it is a principle that others may be planted, but only on a small scale ; in 
all cases depending upon success only where the conditions are favorable." 
He seems to have understood these "certain rules," and "favorable con- 
ditions," and explained them; but in this it was a sad thing for sylvacul- 
ture; they tainted the precepts of the master. 

It would require much time to do full justice to the system of plantation, 
and in proof of this the elder Cotta, some twenty-five years ago, re- 
marked : "As the establishment of forest growths on a large scale is eas- 
ier to do by sowing than by planting, &c., * * * we deem it conve- 
nient to give preference to the former of these methods " An examina- 
tion of the modifications wrought both in theory and in practice since these 
principles were laid down would lead us much too far, and in our day, 
progress is more rapid, and science travels further in twenty years than 
formerly in a century. We will only remark that the old rule which pre- 
scribed that we should plant only where there is no chance of success by sowing, 
has now in many countries, and especially in Saxony, given place to this, 
never to sow except lohere it is impossihle to plant* In other words, planting is 
now the rule — sowing the exception; just the reverse of what it formerly 
was. Experience has, in fact, demonstrated to the present generation of 
sylvaculturists that generally a forest growth can be established sooner^ 
more surely, and in better condition, by planting ; sooner, because it starts 
at least two years earlier than one that is sown, and furthermore, four or 
five years often elapse before it is positively known whether a sowing is to 
be repaired or completed, while in plantations the very next year will show 
every plant that is unable to survive, and these can be at once replaced; — 
more surely and in better condition, because plantations are exposed to 
fewer casualties than seedling growths. The success of the latter de- 
pends in the first instance, upon the quality of the seeds. Now, as we are 
seldom so situated that we can harvest them ourselves, we must take 
them as ofi"ered in the market, at which are too often sold seeds gathered 
before they are ripe, or that are withered, or badly kept, or heated, or 
too old. But assuming the most favorable conditions, let us suppose that 
all the seeds we get are good, we still have cause to fear that the soil is 
not well prepared, the sowing not even, that the seeds are covered too 
little or too much, or that too violent showers or persistent drought, too 
burning a sun, or a late frost, may happen to destroy all our hopes; but 
we will further suppose that the season has been as favorable for the 
coming up of the seeds as we could desire, and that the birds and the mice 
have scrupulously respected the tender plants, we shall be very much de- 
ceived if we suppose that everything is now secure ; but in fact, if the 
conditions have been propitious for the growth of forest seeds, they have 
been equally so for the growth of the pernicious weeds ; so much so in- 
deed, that we can scarcely find the little germs in the midst of the grass 
and herbage by which they are covered and stifled. We may sometimes 
pull up these weeds, but at the risk of drawing up the young plants; but 
this does not always happen, and in this case the mice often find among 
the dried weeds under the snow a refuge, the more attractive because it 
ofi"ers a shelter from the cold, and young plants at hand for food. When 
the spring comes to melt the snow there is more sowing to be done, for 

♦Messrs. Lorentz & Parade remark : "Sowing is considered by many foresters as principally ap- 
plicable to large operations, because its processes are more natural and simple, as well as cheaper 
than those of planting. But practice tends every day to establish the superiority of the latter. "^ 
{Cours Elementaire de Culture dea Bois, 4th ed., p. 509 ) 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 69 

everything is eaten up. If we succeed in keeping a sowing clean of weeds 
the first year, we have every reason to apprehend that in the next spring 
following we shall find the ground spread over with young plants that 
have been thrown out by the frost. Many other dangers await the seed- 
ling forest during the following years, but it would be needless to enumer- 
ate them. We have said enough to show that success in sowing is uncer- 
tain. 

Plantations are likewise liable to late frosts, the teeth of mice, and of 
various other accidents, but their existence is not endangered. In most 
cases these troubles do not occur after two or three, or at most, four 
years. The only real enemies to plantations are insects and their larvae, 
and it is not surprising that foresters now give preference to this 
system. 

Plantations become cheaper than seeding. Experienced foresters do not 
need facts to convince them upon this point. They know, in fact, that if the 
cost of first establishment is a little less in sowing than in planting, especially 
if seeds are cheap, the expenses occasioned in caring for the work and of re- 
planting gaps and vacant places is much greater for seeding, so that taking 
everything into account, the advantage is altogether on the side of planting. 
Be it far from us, however, to think that we should never have recourse to di- 
rect seeding. In sylvaculture there are no absolute and universal rules. Thus, 
for example, we would never advise planting timber on the light sands of La 
Manche or Basse Lusace, as we would always blame sowing on the strong- 
sodded but thin soils of Saxony. All we have to say as to this is, that as a 
general rule, and except in certain well-defined cases, such as those above 
mentioned, jo?(Xw^t7i(7 should he the rule/ sowing the exception. 

THE CONDITIONS MOST FAVORABLE FOR GROWING OF FOREST SEEDS. 

That seeds may germinate, they must have a certain amount of contact 
with the air, and a proper degree of warmth and moisfcvire. In the natural 
process of seeding but a very small number of the seeds so bountifully produced 
ever find these due proportions of congenial influences, so as to take root and 
grow. It is only here and there that a seed gets lodged among the dead 
leaves and the mosses, or gets covered by the detritus, so as to secure the 
needed protection and a successful growth. If seeds are left too lightly cov- 
ered they may be eaten by the birds, or washed out by rains. If too deep, 
the young shoot will be entirely smothered, or will come slowly to the surface 
in too feeble condition for vigorous growth. 

With the view of determining fixed rules from careful trial, a series of ob- 
servations were made by Dr. Baur, director of the experimental station for 
forestral researches at Hohenheim, in Wurtemberg, in 1873, 1874 and 1875, 
the principal results of which are given in the JRevue des Eaux et Forets for 
June, 1876. The soil selected for these experiments was of average density. 
We can only state the general results : 

Beecli. Seeds should be but slightly covered. The best results were found when 
the covering was from 39 to 1.57 inches, and the best depth 0.79. This agrees 
quite nearly with the rule laid down by Burckhard, Heyer, and Lorentz and 
Parade. 

Q^erc^iS^e^wncwkto.— The acorns should be planted shallow, but a little deeper 
than beech-nuts. The depth should be more in light soils. Heyer recommends 1 to 
2 inches, and advises thut they be sometimes covered by a plow. 

^c^rmmpesire (English Maple). —The seeds should be but slightly covered, but 
little deeper than with beech. From 0.39 to 0.78 is imquestionably best, and be- 
yond 2.75 inches they will not grow. The observer noticed the following appear- 



70 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

ances in the germination of the maple : They issue with very long cotyledons, and 
if deeply covered, or if the surface of the soil is too hard, these cannot easily break 
through the obstacle, yet continue to grow, and at length break, and thus the germ 
is lost. We may thus see why many vacant places often occur in seed-beds of the 
maple. 

Acacia. — The results here observed were quite interesting, and agreed perfectly 
in the two years observed. When Stumpf ( Waklbau, 2d ed. p. 276) laid down the 
general rule that "large and heav}^ seeds should be more deeply covered," he should 
have excepted this kind. The results tend to show that depth has but very little in- 
fluence, but that these seeds, however light, should be planted at least as deep as 
acorns. The result appears to lead to the conclusion that the acacia might be used 
with advantage in planting arid soils and southern slopes, where seeds thinly cov- 
ered would scarcely grow from want of moisture. 

Black Alder. — This should be but very slightly covered, a third of an inch being 
enough. Burckhard advises that it should be very slightly covered, or even simply 
strewn upon the surface, and Heyor remarks that it should be mingled with the 
most superficial parts of the soil. The experiments of Dr. Baur gave the best re- 
sults at 0.39 inch. From 0.59 to 0.98 the shoots were but few, and from greater 
depth but one seed came up. 

Common Pine — The results of two years showed that a covering of 0.39 to 0.59 
inch is the most advantageous. At greater depths the plants were scattered, and 
none grew from a depth of over 1.18 inches 

Fir. — With this, as with the pine, the deeper seeds were slower in coming to the 
surface, and the general average for best results was the same. 

Silver Fir. — The best depth ranges between 0.39 and 0.77 inch, or a little more 
than in the case of the pine and fir. None appeared which had been covered 1.18 
or more inches. 



ATTENTION TO THE QUALITIES OF SEEDS— GATHERING 

OF SEEDS. 

It is a universal law in natiire that certain qualities of excellence or defect 
tend to transmission from parent to offspring. By virtue of this, the vari- 
ous choice breeds of domestic animals have been originated and improved. 
Our plants cultivated for culinary use and ornamental planting, have thus 
been multiplied in variety without number, and in quality so gi-eatly im- 
proved upon the native original as scarcely to be recognized as of the same 
species. 

May we not, from an analogy, hope an equally good result in the growth 
and quality of timber, and of the fruits and other products of forest trees ? 
Herein, although we have the disadvantage of a slow growth, and of a life 
that often outlives a man's, we have the decided advantage of being able to 
hold and keep what we get, by the process of budding and grafting; as we 
constantly see in our nurseries of ornamental trees, where striking peculiar- 
ities, often originating in nature, or from some accidental circumstance, are 
perpetuated and multiplied without limit. 

But starting with the seed, it is obviously of first importance that it be of 
the best quality — not the first that falls, because, as in fruits, it may have 
ripened prematurely from injuries dune by insects — not from stinted and 
dwarfish trees, which sometimes bear and seed in morbid excess, nor from 
trees enfeebled by extreme age or other debilitating causes. 

It is laid down as a rule worthy of close observance, that the trees from 
which the best seed are to be expected should be middle aged, that grow 
isolated, or at least a little separate from others, so as to have the full benefit 
of the air and light — that the tree have a full head, and a perfectly healthy 
and vigorous condition. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. Jl 

Wood that is aged and decaying, as well as that which is young and ten- 
der, is apt to yield seed that will not grow, or at least that will produce 
dwarfish and worthless shoots. 

Scrubby and malformed trees are said, on high authority, to tend to the 
production of degenerate varieties, from which they will not recover to the 
primitive type, until they have been cultivated under better conditions, and 
through several generations. 

Seeds should be gathered when the weather is dry, and such as are heavy 
when they fall to the ground, as when beaten or shaken from the trees they 
sometimes fall before fully ripe. When gathered they should be spread in 
thin layers in a dry airy place, at least until the dampness is evaporated. 
The mode of preservation differs greatly with the species and the tendency 
to sprout, to rot, to heat, to perish by dissication, or to mold, is to bes coun- 
teracted according to circumstances. In some cases it is important to keep 
seeds from fluctuations of temperature by burying in dry sand, or covering 
them with litter or straw. In others it is advisable to keep them eool and 
slightly damp, as by placing them in a cellar. 

The soft maples {Acer dasycarpum^ or silver maple, A. ruhum or red ma- 
ple) mature their fruit in June, and their seeds should be planted at once, 
.The sugar, Norway, sycamore, and some other maples, ripen their seeds in 
the fall, and they may be«sown then, or be kept in a box, mixed with sand, 
until the following spring. 

Acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, &c., should be planted as soon as they fall to 
insure success ; but as they are liable to destruction by squirrels and other 
small animals, it may be often convenient to keep them in boxes covered 
with sand in a cool place to prevent too mu.ch drying through the winter, 
and then plant in the spring. 

METHODS OF PRESERVING AND OF PLANTING SEEDS. 

Elm seeds ripen in June, and if they find congenial soil and conditions, 
will make good growth the first season. 

Red cedar berries should be bruised early in March, and mixed with an 
equal or greater bulk of wet wood ashes. In three weeks the alkali will 
have cut the resinous gum, when the seeds can be washed clean from the 
pulp. In preparing the seed beds, dig the ground a foot or more in depth, 
mix for three or four inches at the surface a liberal dressing of well-rotted 
leaf-mold (or wood-soil) and sharp sand. Lay off the beds four feet wide, 
and sow, screen and cultivate as elsewhere described for other evergreens. 
They may be watered occasionally in the evening in case of drought. The 
shading should be removed and a mulching of leaves two inches deep put 
along the rows. They may be transplanted to nursery rows the second spring, 
and three years after the alternate rows should be taken out.* 

ECONOMICAL MODE OF PRESERVING ACORNS IN LARGE 
QUANTITIES THROUGH THE WINTER. 

METHOD PRACTICED IN FRANCE. 

Acorns when kept over winter in large quantities, are liable to various 



*S. Edwards, of Lamoille, 111 , "in Transactions of Wisconsin Agricultural Society," I808- 1859, p. 
506. In tbis article, preference is given to the red cedar in Illinois before any other evergreen for or- 
dinary screens of moderate height. For screens to orchards, buildings and stock-yards, the Norway 
spruce would do better. Mr. Edwards has tried and rejected, as not hardy, the cedar of Lebanon, 
Deodar cedar, Mount Atlas cedar, Douglas spruce, Menzies spruce, -iraucarian pine,Enghsh and Irish 
yews, Chinese arbor vitaj and golden-leaved yew. The sea pine and European silver fir were not suf- 
flciently hardy unless protected in winter. 



72 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, 

accidents that injure or destroy their germinating power. They may become 
too dry; in large heaps they will heat and mold; or if too wet they will 
sprout sooner than is desired. To obviate these dangers, the following cheap 
mode of keeping them in large quantities has been mentioned as pi'acticed in 
France, which might be equally adapted to the middle latitudes of our own 
couutry, with such modifications due to greater dryness of climate as experi- 
ence would suggest : 

A place is selected in a forest where the soil is sandy and dry, the surface 
level, or slightly inclined to the south, and the shelter of large trees low and 
abundant. It should be fenced in, and if liable to drainage of water from 
adjacent grounds, a small ditch may be dug around it. The acorns are spread 
on the ground as gathered, but nowhere more than four or five inches deep, 
the leaves and litter being first removed. Prom the beginning, they should 
bo raked an hour or two daily, with great regularity, during the first month, 
and after that a raking once iu two or three days will be sufiicient. By the 
end of December their tendency to heat will be over, and during very cold 
weather they should be lightly covered with leaves or ferns ; but these should 
be taken off early to prevent sprouting. In temperate climates, no covering 
is needed but the shelter of the trees. In very rainy winters, the raking 
may be renewed from time to time, and continued till time for planting. 

TREE-SEEDS— METHODS OF PLANTING. 

In a report of a committee upon forestry, made to the Iowa State Horti- 
cultural Society in 1875 (p. 298), by Prof. Henry H. McAfee, the following 
practical statements are made upon this subject : 

Seeds may be classified for purposes of treatment into three sorts, viiz: nuts, hard 
seeds, and soft seeds. The nuts should always be planted where they are to remain 
permanently, as the nut- trees do not usually transplant without considerable inju- 
ry, and the nuts must be kept damp from the time when they are ripe till planted ; 
at least the kernel must not be allowed to become dry, or they will surely fail to 
grow. Thin soft-shelled nuts, like the chestnut, will, if exposed to sun and 
air, dry \n a few hours enough to prevent growth. So nuts must be kept in earth, 
or on the earth under mulch, or in something that will prevent drying till used. 
Peat, moss, old straw, dust, etc., will do. Avery good way is to spread them in a 
thin layer upqn the ground, or in a trench so located that water cannot stand among 
them, and cover them thoroughly with mulch, planting them at corn-planting time, 
and about as deep as corn is planted. 

The hard seeds are generally somewhat slow to germinate, and need to be in soak 
a long time, to be frozen wet, or to be scalded before planting, or to be treated with 
some substance to hasten germination. This class embraces honey-locust, which, 
if kept dry and planted in the spring, will seldom ever grow the first year, and 
sometimes will not sprout till the third season ; also the stones of cherries and 
plums, and even the seeds of apples and pears. If mixed with sand (two parts of 
sand to one of seed by bulk) and dampened fully, and subjected to moderate 
freezing through the winter, all this class except honej'--locust, coffee-nut, the haw- 
thorns, and red cedar are likely to grow the season planted. For these exception - 
all}'- hard cases, water heated to boiling is poured over them, standing up»n them 
an hour or two, some may swell and can then be picked out and planted, and the 
more incorrigible treated to another scald, and thus till they all swell, or they are 
planted in fall and left to grow when they will ; or in case of the haws, the}^ may 
be mixed into bran-mash and fed to sheep or cattle, and the droppings planted, 
when the seeds, softened by digestion, are likely to grow. 

The soft seeds, comprising all not named in the two other classes, may be still 
further divided into spring, fall and winter seeds, each of which requires or per- 
mits different treatment. The spring seeds are those which ripen in spring or 
early summer, as silver and red maples, and red and white elm, all ripening from 
May 15 to June 5.* and the rock elm a little later than the others. These seeds will 
not keep well, and should be gathered from the trees before they fall, except where 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 73 

they are so situated that they may fall into still water, when, being light and float- 
ing, they may sometimes be scooped up in large quantities. As soon as possible 
after gathering they should be planted, not covered deeply, say one-half inch, in 
good mellow soil, and if a fine mulch, like damp chail, can be obtained, it should be 
lightly spread over the ground to protect from too rapid drying of the ground, 
which sometimes takes place in June. 

The winter soft seeds are ash-leaved maple, green and black ash, sycamore, bass- 
wood &c., or those seeds which have a tendency to hang all winter in sheltered 
localities. These seeds may be gathered sometimes as late as planting time and im- 
mediately planted ; but if gathered earlier, had better be spread thinly upon the 
ground and covered until planting time. All others of the soft or winged seeds, 
not classed as spring or winter, are the soft fall seeds, and they should all be stored 
as directed for nuts. Hackberry and cherry, though properly cLissed with the hard 
seeds, should be freed from their pulp in fall and stored in earth to freeze, and 
planted in spring without scalding. All seeds, but nuts which are large enough to 
pick up readily, and such as may be gathered floating on still water, as noted above, 
are best gathered from the trees, and stored so as not to drjr too much. They must 
not be kept in too large masses, as so dealt with, they may heat and spoil. * * 

If ground is not very weedy, it may be economy to plant all the seeds in perma- 
nent plantations ; but in old or weedy ground it is generally best to grow them in 
seed-bed or nursery-rows. If put in the permanent plantation, allowance should be 
made for poor seeds, and more planted than you want of trees. The question of 
check-row or drill-planting is to be decided by the planter, and the same reasons 
which determine the manner of planting corn have weight in forestry ; though 
generally speaking, forestry is more satisfactory in drills than is an annual crop like 
corn. If check-rows are used, severar seeds per hill are desirable; and if drills, 
generally twice or three times as many seeds as you need trees should go in. It is 
not worth while to put tree seeds into any but mellow, moist soil, and to secure good 
results with them, thorough culture the first year is necessary. A rule of depth 
sometimes given is to cover with soil as deep as the seed is thick, and that is of 
course very thin for small seeds. But seeds of trees often get covered too deep, 
and any seeds but the nuts ought to grow with half an inch of fine earth lightly 
packed above the seed. Nuts may be planted a little deeper, but not very much. 

Seed-beds &nd nursery rows are, all in all, to be advised, and they are generally 
used for seedling trees. Seed-beds are usually four feet wide and of any conven- 
ient length, and four inches above the surrounding level. For evergreen and larch 
seeds, which, by the way, ought not to be attempted by any one not trained in the 
nursery business, shades are used in the form of lath hurdles, with openings of less 
width than the strips, and generally in addition to Ihe hurdles^ wind screens around 
the beds, while some nurserymen build arbors over their seed-beds, and such seed 
is generally put in broadcast, covering by sifting on sandy earth. But for any of 
our native tree-seeds, shading will hardly be necessary. 

********** 

Drills across the beds one foot apart may be planted, or drills twenty to twenty- 
eight inches apart may be made of any length, and on the general level, and the 
seeds planted at the rate of twenty to forty to the- foot. Culture while plants are 
young should be by hand, running a hand wheel-hoe and hand- weeding in the drill, if 
necessary; but when the trees have attained some growth, a steady horse may be 
used, and if the nursery is made of long rows, of course horse labor is better em- 
ployed than if it is in short rows. Most of the native trees will be fit at one year 
old to remove to permanent plantation, and if to be so used, should be dug in the 
fall, and stored by burying, or in cellar, ready for early pj^nting the next spring. 

The writer mentions two systems of planting — the furrow and spade — giv- 
ing preference to the latter in any but a very damp spring. For this a head- 
ing spade (a sort with a long blade ending in an obtuse angle) is used to best 
advantage. The spade is pushed half way down, the handle borne a foot 
back, and then it is pushed down the whole length, when it is again brought 
upright. This makes a hole proper for receiving the roots of the tree, and 
when set the earth is pressed down. 

As for distance apart, 4 by 4 feet is generally preferable, which i-equires 2,722 

♦These dates, and in fact the whole article, will be considered as applying to Iowa and adjaceot 
parts in the Western prairie country. 



74 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

trees per acre. Spaces 3 by 3 are as near as can be cultivated by horse pow- 
er, giving 4,840 trees per acre. The writer prefers 3^ by 3|-, and has found 
that yellow cottonwood at this will cover the ground the first year. 

In planting trees the earth should not be wet so as to make a mortar ; 
neither should they be set while there is standing water in the hole. In 
such cases the soil in contact with the roots tends to become hard in drying, 
to the great injvxry of the growth. The clay that may adhere and dry on, 
where the roots have been puddled in transplanting, should be rinsed off 
before the trees are set. The necessity of pressing the earth firmly around 
the roots appears to be greater in the fine prairie soil of the west than where 
it is of a -coarser texture. At least, it appears to be the concurrent testi- 
mony of planters on the prairies that the soil should be strongly compressed, 
leaving, however, the surface loose, so as to readily absorb the rains. A clay 
soil would be apt to bake if pressed. This tendency to bake is greater when 
planting is done in a wet time. 

SHELTER TO YOUNG SHOOTS IN NURSERIES. 

When the young tree begins life in its native conditions it is sheltered by 
the parent boughs. When we seek to produce the same kinds, in nurseries, 
it is in reason that we should not expose them to the direct rays of a hot 
sun. The careful forester will protect the tender shoots by branches of trees 
lightly spread over the ground, and for this the deciduous kinds are better 
than evergreens, because the latter afford less shade and sooner shed their 
leaves. 

When this shelter is removed, it should be done little by little, to accus- 
tom the plants gradually to the open air. 

NUMBER OF TREES TO THE ACRE. 

Systematic treatises upon planting give tables showing the number of 
trees of different species that should be allowed to remain on the ground at 
different ages of growth. But so many circumstances of soil, aspect, and 
climate affect these, that the experience of one locality can scarcely be allow- 
ed to establish rules for another. In fact, this must be left to the skill and 
intelligence of the planter, who should carefully observe the wants of the 
case and afford the relief from overcrowding that the case demands. 

It has been stated as a general rule, that full half of the trees first plant- 
ed at 4 feet apart should be removed before the growth is 20 feet high ; the 
number should not exceed 800 to the acre when 30 feet high ; and when 40 
feet, not over 300 to 350 to the acre, the soil and exposure being the most 
favorable that are found. Others reckon the space between at one-fifth of 
the heighth. * 

Some idea of the capacity of soil for tree growth, under the best manage- 
ment in Europe, may be found from the statement that an acre of ash, elm, 
or sycamore 40 years old will contain 2,000 or 3,000 cubic feet of timber, 
and when 60 years old double this amount. This is, besides the successive 
thinnings, which become, when near a market, an important source of in- 
come, and when the growth becomes large, may be more in value than the 
cost of management and interest of investment. These thinnings should be 
continued as long as necessary, and in full-grown forests may sometimes be 
required in forests 80 years old. As a general rule, larch, spruce, and other 
conifers, require less space than broad-leaved, deciduous trees. Larch is 
supposed to do well in good soil, with 9 feet space ai-ound it. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS MANUAL, 



75 



It is also observed that certain trees bear tbe shade of other species 
better than that of their own, and that, therefore, a mixture, as for 
instance, of oak and beech, \?ill grow nearer together than either species 
would if alone. 

The following table shows the number of trees upon an acre, at the 
distance specified, and the number that might be left at different ages, with 
the proportional value of the thinning, taken at these several periods : 



Age (years). 


ce 

O S3 

a 


o 


a 

05 w 

t o 


Proportional 
value of each 
trimming to 
total trim'ng. 


10 


Ft. In. 

3 9 

4 
4 3 

4 7 

5 6 

6 6 
8 


3,097 
2,792 
2,411 
2,073 
1,440 
1,031 
680 


358 
375 
311 
338 
833 
409 
291 


Per cent. 
3.4 


15 


5.2 


20 


6.5 


27 


10.5 


35 


23.6 


43 


23.7 


51 , 


27.5 







The amount of timber grown on a given area, in some of the govermental 
forests of Europe that have been planted and managed according to the rviles 
of forestral science, is very much greater than the same soil would grow in 
wood if left to itself. So striking is the difference, that Dr. Berenger, who 
is at the head of the Italian school at Yallombrosa, remarks, in the Joixrnal 
of Forestral Economy ( Giornalle di Economia Forestale) 1871-72 : 

That while an uncultivated woodland taken for a long period, and counting in- 
terest and taxes, would yield almost nothing to the capital invested, it is well estab- 
lished that the same land, managed according to modern science would, in the long 
run, yield a revenue both conspicuous and constant. 



PLA.NTATION OE DIFFERENT SPECIES. 

Without attempting to discuss the artistic effects which become a study in 
landscape gardening and the laying out of parks, we will concisely state some 
suggestions that have been made as worthy of attention by those who wish 
to apply them. 

By placing a plat of white pine in the centre, and surrounding it by suc- 
cessive belts of Norway spruce, Scotch pine, Austrian pine, white cedar, and 
red cedar, the group planted on level ground, when fully grown, would appear 
highest in the middle, as if standing upon a mound. A belt of cottonwood 
around the margin would afford shelter while needed, and should be cut 
away when fully established. 

Orchard belts of Scotch pine, white pine, Norway spruce, and larch, have 
been recommended, and the use of screens on the north and west sides have 
been mentioned as desirable. But from observation and inquiry in the 
prairie States of the west, we are convinced that the most injury to fruit 
trees has resulted from hot, drying winds from the southwest, and that a 
screen against these is quite necessary. 

For a mound of deciduous trees on level ground, a central plat of Euro- 



^6 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

pean larch, surrounded by belts of the American larch,. soft maple, honey 
locust, black oak, wild cherry, hickory, ironwood, crab apple and wild plum, 
has been suggested. But these combinations are too variable for a general 
rule, and in each locality the planter, with a knowledge of the habits of 
growth of the trees at his command, will be able to vary them to suit his 
purposes. 

RELATIVE YALUE OF GflOWTH AT DIFFERENT AGES. 

It is very often found that the layers of annual growth are thicker when 
young, and that they progressively diminish in width as they increase in 
size. The conifers of the Rocky Mountains, and elsewhere, often show this 
fact in a conspicuous manner. 

In other kinds, as the elm, the wood is more profitable when cut young, 
because the timber deteriorates in quality with age. The inner wood of a 
large elm tree is comparatively spongy and weak. But in other woods, as 
the oak, the value increases in a gaining progression with age, and large tim- 
■ bers are worth more per cubic foot than small ones, because they can be ap- 
plied to more important uses when of larger size. The annual revenue from 
the growth of an oak tree, of the species commonly used in ship building, 
has been very carefully determined from the mean of a great number of 
records in France, and is stated as follows : 

Fr. c 

Tree 50 years old, - - - -- - 10 per annum. 

Tree 100 years old, - - - - - -0 80 per annum. 

Tree 150 years old, - - - - - - 2 00 per annum. 

Tree 200 years old, - - - - - - 4 00 per annum. 

The value per"^'cubic foot, therefore, increases with the size of the tree, 
and (for straight hewn timber) the length of clean trunk below the 
branches. 

GROWTH OF WOOD IN DIFFERENT YEARS. 

Every one who has closely examined the layeis of wood growth on a trans- 
verse section, must have noticed that considerable difference occurs between 
the growth of different years. We have here, in fact, a record of the com- 
bined influences of climate upon wood growth. Soil, aspect and other cir- 
cumstances of a permanent kind may largely influence different trees of the 
same species, but in a given tree, one year with another, they change so 
little that we may scarcely be able to appreciate their effect ; and in com- 
paring the thickness and quality of the layers formed in different years, we 
may regard them as an indication of the effects of temperature, moisture, 
winds and other variable elements of the climate. 

ADYICE OF MR. GREELEY WITH REFERENCE TO TREE- 
PLANTING. 

The founder of the New York Tribune took frequent occasion to' urge, 
with voice and pen, the practical importance of tree planting, not only for 
the direct, but also the indirect profits to be derived from this source. In a 
little manual, well known, and full of sound advice in matters relating to 
the general interests of husbandry, this writer gives the following sugges- 
tions as to the advantages and best methods of forest culture : 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 77 

I have said that I believe in cutting trees as well_ as in planting them. I have 
not said, and do not mean to say, that 1 believe in cutting everything clean as you 
go That was once proper ; * * . * it is still advisable in forest-covered 
regions, where the sun must be let in before crops can be grown ; but in nine cases 
out of ten timber should be thinned or culled out rather than cut off ; and for every 
tree taken away at least two should be planted or set out. * * * Why do 
not farmers infer readily and generally, that growing indifferent timber, where the 
best and most valued would grow as rapidly, is a stupid, costly blunder ? It seems 
to me that whoever has attained the conviction th it apple trees should be grafted, 
ought to know that it is wasteful to grow red oak, beech, white maple and alder 
where white oak, hickory, locusts, and white pine might be grown with equal 
facility, in equal luxuriance, provided the right seeds were planted, and a little 
pains taken to keep down, for a year or two, the shoots spontaneously sent up by 
the wrong ones. , 

North of the Potomac and east of the Ohio, and I presume, in limited districts 
elsewhere, rocky, sterile woodlands, costing $2 to $50 per acre, according to loca- 
tion, etc., are to-day the cheapest property to be bought in the United States, even 
though nothing were done with them, but keep out fire and cattle and let the young 
trees grow as they will. Money can be more profitably and safely invested in land* 
covered by young timber than anything else. The parent who would invest a few 
thousands for the benefit of his children or grandchildren, still young, may buy 
woodlands which will be worth twenty times their present cost within ihe next 
twenty years. But better even than this would it be to buy up rocky, craggy, 
naked hillsides and eminences which have been pastured to death, and shutting 
out cattle inflexibly, scratch these over with plow, mattock, hoe or pick, as circum- 
stances shall dictate, plant them thickly with chestnut, walnut, hickorj^, white oak, 
and the seeds of locust and white pine. I say locust, though not yet certain that 
this tree must not be started in garden or nursery beds and transplanted when two 
or three years old, so puny and feeble is it at the outset, and so likely to be smoth- 
ered under leaves or killed out by its more favored neighbors. I have experiments 
in progress, not yet matured, which may shed light on this point before I finish 
these essays. 

Plant thickly, and of diverse kinds, so as to cover the ground promptly and choke 
out weeds and shrubs, with full purpose to thin and prune as circumstances shall 
dictate. 

Many farmers are averse to planting timber, because they think nothing can be 
realized therefrom for the next twenty or thirty years, which is as long as they ex- 
pect to live. But this is a grave miscalculation. Let us suppose a rocky, hilly 
pasture lot of ten or twenty acres, rudely scratched over as 1 have suggested, and 
thickly seeded with hickory nuts and white oak acorns only. Within tive years it 
will yield abundantly of hoop-poles, though the better, more promising half be 
left to nature, as they should be ; two years later another and larger crop of hoop- 
poles may be cut, still sparing the best ; and thenceforth a valuable crop of timber may 
be taken from that land ; for if cut at the proper season, at least two thrifty sprouts 
will start from every stump ; and so that wood will yield a clear income each year, 
while its best trees are steadily growing and maturing. I do not advise restriction 
to those two species of timber ; but I insist that a young plantation of forest trees 
may and should yield a clear income in every year after its fourth. 

As to the far west — the plains, the parks, and the Great Basin — there is more 
money to be made by dotting them with groves of choice timber than by working 
the richest veins of the adjacent mountains. Whoever will promptly start, near a 
present or prospective railroad, forty acres of choice trees— hickory, white oak, 
locust, chestnut and white pine — within a circuit of three hundred miles from 
Denver, on land which he has made or is making provision to irrigate, may begin 
to sell trees therefrom two years hence, and persist in selling annually henceforth 
for a century, at first transplanting— very soon for a variety of uses in addition to 
that. 

EVELYN'S MAXIM FOR THE PREPARATION FOR PLANTING. 

The keeping of soil around the roots of a tree when taken up for plant- 
ing is no new notion, for Evelyn, in writing two centuries and more ago, 
reminds us that — 

Theophrastus, in his third book. Be Causis, (cap. vii), gives us great caution in 
planting to preserve the roots, and especially the earth adhering to the smallest 




78 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

fibrils, which should, by no means, be shaken off, as most of our gardeners do, to 
trim and quicken them, as they pretend, which is to cut them shorter ; * * * 
and, therefore, Cato advises us to take care that we bind the mold about them, or 
transfer the roots in baskets, to preserve it from forsaking them, as now our 
nurseiymen frequently do, by which they of late are able to furnish our grounds, 
avenues and gardens in a moment with trees and other plants, which would else 
require many years to appear in such perfection.* 

Evelyn also notices the importance of preparing the holes some time 
beforehand, so that they be left some time open to macerating, rains, frosts 
and sun — 

So that they resolve the compacted salt, (as some will have it,) render the earth 
friable, mix and qualify it for aliment, and to be more easily drawn in and digested 
by the roots and analogous stomach of tree. This, to some degree, may be artifi- 
cially done by burning of straw in the newly-opened pits, and drenching the mold 
with water, especially in over dry seasons, and by meliorating barren ground with 
sweet and comminuted lactations. Let, therefore, this be received as a maxim: 
Never to plant a fruit or forest tree where there has lately been an old decayed one 
taken up till the pit be well ventilated and furnished with fresh mold. 

This practice of exposing the soil taken from excavations made from tree- 
planting to the action of frost and other atmospheric influences, is sanctioned 
by the best experience. It is most serviceable in strong clay soils, and is 
chiefly limited to ornamental planting. 

A PRACTICAL VIEW OF THE TIMBER QUESTION. 

We shall have elsewhere repeated occasion to mention the eminent success 
with which the Hon. C. E. Whiting, of Monona county, in western Iowa, 
has commenced plantations of timber, and the jirofits already derived from 
this source. He has been not less diligent in precept than commendable in 
practice, and his experience is worthy of careful notice everywhere, and 
especially in the prairie States of the Northwest, to which it more particu- 
larly applies. In an essay presented at a meeting of the State Horticultural 
Society, in 1876, after mentioning the rapid waste and consumption of timber 
throughout the United States, he says : 

The rapid cutting awaj' of what forest we have, and the feeding off and plowing 
under of so large a portion or our prairie grass, are already beginning to tell with 
disastrous effect on all our inland streams, large and small. The question will here 
arise : VVhat shall we do ? To my mind, in the light of my experience, the answer 
is plain, and the solution easy. Let us use the timber nature has furnished us for 
all the purposes that our wants really require — just as we would use a crop of wheat, 
x;orn, cattle or hogs ; but, as with the latter crops, let us consider the question of 
keeping up our stock. In the place of every tree we cut, enough should be planted 
to make the loss at least doubly good. 

The title-deeds which we hold to the broad acres of this good old mother earth 
of ours, gives us no moral right to render them unfit lor habitation for those who 
are to follow us. Nature has formed all things well, if man would only profit by 
her lesson, even when she made these vast pnjiiies. One-tenth part of our surface 
covered with timber — planted in belts— would furnish an abundant supply for every 
conceivable purpose for which timber is needed. The remaining nine-tenths will 
furnish more of all the necessaries of life, and that with far more uniform cer- 
tainty, than the whole would without the protection of the one- tenth in timber- 
belts. For the last twelve years, for every native tree that I have appropriated to 
jaiy own use, I have planted at least one hundred, and it is proving to be, and is 
likely to continue, one of the best paying investments ever made in Iowa. Let us 
now consider a few reasons why every man on a praiiie farm should plant timber : 

1. To those of us who have chosen our homes in this prairie State, it is a binding 
duty that we owe to ourselves, to our Stale and our children. 

* S'jlva: or a Di$couTae of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timbir in Hi* Maj'esty't Dominions, 
trc. By John Evelyn (1669). Hunter's third edition, i. p. 57. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. . 79 

2. Timber-growing is no longer an experiment, but, with care, a certain and 
complete success. 

3. The State has wisely offered to, and actually does pay, in exemption from tax- 
ation, anamo'unt equal to the entire expense of cultivating the timber. 

4. If planted in belts around the farm, the protection isworlh more than the rent 
of the ground on which the timber stands. All the timber which I have planted, 
or will plant under the present law, will stand, when ten years old, without having 
cost me a cent. 

5. It renders a farm so much more beautiful and attractive as a home, and so much 
more valuable if we ever wish to sell. 

6. One can hardly look on those beautiful groves, with their cool shade in sum- 
mer, and protection in winter, without a feeling of self-conscious satisfaction that 
he has done one good thing for himself, for his State and for his posterity. 

With these facts before us, have we not every inducement to go forward in the 
work ? Our State, as a part of the great confederacy, is taking noble lead in the 
work. Our State Horticultural Society is giving, and giving most earnestly, all the 
benefit of her great experience. The State Agricultural Society has also offered 
large premiums for timber- planting; but its strongest and most earnest advocates 
are to be found among those who, to-day, are in house, barn and field surrounded 
by the protecting influence of groves and bells, and know their full value, both in 
summer and winter. A high state of civilization, and an abundance of timber, 
must ever go hand in hand ; and it is a hopeful sign of the times that the whole 
civilized world is beginning to move in this direction. Iowa, as a State, must move 
with the current if she maintains her present proud position. As fine groves of 
youg Cottonwood, white willows and box-elders as I ever saw growing, I have seen 
in the extreme north-west counties of our State, as Clay, O'Brien and Osceola. In 
the years 1873 and 1874. the St. Paul and N. P. li. R. Company planted, successfully, 
four millions of trees west of the timber region of Minnesota, toward the Ked 
•River of the North. * * * 

A few words more to one class of our citizens, and I have done. To our young 
men who are just starting life for themselves and feel as though they needed every 
dollar of money and every hour of time for other purposes, let me say, get a few 
cuttings of white willow, or cottonwood, from an older neighbor, or pull up a' few 
seedlings from the nearest river bottom, or, in the proper season, gather a few seeds 
of ash, box-elder, soft maple, or elm ; plant, set or stick, as the case may be, in well 
prepared ground, north and west of house and field lots ; plant close together, take 
good care for two or three years in the way of good culture, and you will, almost 
from the beginning, have an abundance of cuttings from your own cottonwood and 
willows to continue your plantation around j^our fields, and in a very short time 
you will have any quantity of seeds from your box-elder, maple and ash for further 
plantations. If the quick-growing trees be planted 2 by 5 feet in the rows, an up- 
right growth will be secured, and the needed thinning out, as the poles attain size, 
•will very soon furnish all the fire-wood needed. Set all the trees on the outside 
line in straight rows, and equal distances apart, and they will, in a very few years, 
support either boards or wires for a fence. 

TREE-PLANTING IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS. 

OBSERVATIONS OF MB. GEORGE B. EMERSON, AS TO PLANTING, CULTIVATION, KINDS 
OF TIMBER BEST ADAPTED TO THE CLIMATE, ETC. 

Mr. George B. Emerson, of Boston, in a letter commending the subject 
of planting in eastern Massachusetts,* remarks: 

In our hard and barren soil, the land on which the seed is sown, or the young 
trees are planted, must for many years be cultivated while the plants are growing, 
in order that they may make any show at all, even in twenty years. They will, 
doubtless, grow without cultivation — but very slowly. If an open pasture or newly 
cleared land should be taken, the process must be very different in the two cases. 

In an old, open uncultivated pasture, the soil and subsoil are usually very hard, 
presenting great obstacles to the penetration of the roots. In this case, the ground 
must be plowed, that it may be opened and loosened to the depth of two feet. After 

•Transactions ofthe Agriculturni Societies of Massachusetts, 1874, p. 42. 



80 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

the acorns are sowed, or the trees planted, the plow can go only between the rows, 
leaving the subsoil between the rows unmoved. This shows the necessity of get- 
ting the ground in proper condition before the operation of sowing or planting 
begins. * 

The best kinds of oak, are those of the white-oak group, viz: the common white 
oak, the swamp white oak, both of them common, in Essex county, Massachusetts, 
the over-cup oak and the mossy-cup, the latter to be found in Berkshire, the stem- 
fruited and the sessile fruited, which grow reaclily in our climate, and the chestnut, 
oak, foucd north and south of us, and the Rocky Mountain oak, found in rocky 
hills, in several parts of the State. The wood of all these eight is of great value 
as fuel and for timber uses. The next group is the red oak group, containing the 
black or yellow-barked oak, the scarlet oak, the pia oak, and the two varieties of the 
red, called the red and gray. The black and the scarlet, are common in Essex coun- 
ty, and are valuable and very beautiful. The pin oak is found farther south, but 
would, I think, grow readily here. The red oak is a rapid grower, and a beautiful 
tree, but the least valuable of the oaks for fuel or timber. There is one species of 
the live oak group — I mean the willow oak— which grows so luxuriantly in the 
State but little south of this, that I have no doubt will grow here. 

The time for sowing the acorns is in the autumn, immediately after they have 
fallen from the tree. It is very difficult to keep the acorns through the winter, and 
it is necessary only when tbey are to be transplanted to a distance. They should be 
placed just below the surface. The plants must for some years be kept free from 
weeds. I suppose the most profitable way of doing this is that practiced in the 
peach orchards in New Jersey, which are for some years covered, with crops of 
beans, potatoes, or somethiug else suitable to the soil. 

The first acre sowed or planted as a nursery, will bear plants enough for many 
acres of forests. As they grow larger they may be thinned out and transplanted ; 
and when too large for that, may be gradually thinned for poles or for fuel. 1 sup- 
pose that, either for ornament or for timber- forest, it would be a great advantage to 
continue to cultivate between the trees, until they cast so deep a shade that noth- 
ing would profitably grow. 

If recently cleared forest land is to be restored to forest, plowing may be necessary, 
but probably not subsCil plowing, as the roots will keep the ground open and porous 
by their own penetration. The thing to be principally regarded is the character of the 
previous growth. Land ought not to be chosen which has already been covered with 
oaks, unless the cultivator is willing to go to the expense of trenching to the depth 
of two or three feet to bring to the surface unused virgin soil. 

It would be well to cultivate all the different species, as different species are 
adapted to dift'erent situations; the swamp-oak and mossy-cup to moist land, the rock 
chestnut to dry, rocky hills, the red to sandy, the white to clayey, the black and the 
scarlet to hard and hungry soils. 

Perhaps it would be well to interpret "oaks" as including the oak farnily, and 
thus taking the beech and chestnut; the former for its beauty as atree near dwelling 
houses, the latter for its great rapidity of growth, and for its value as fencing and 
building stuff'. 

. PROFITS OF PLANTING. 

STATEMENT OF MR. O. B. GALUSHA, OF ILLINOIS. 

In a lecture at the Industrial University of Illinois, in 1869, the follow- 
ing instances of forest growth and profits of timber culture were mentioned by 
Mr. O. B. Galusha :* 

A few miles from my residence are a few acres of ground which were cleared of 
timber sixteen or seventeen years since. Therewas then left upon the ground a growth 
of underbrush only, consisting of several varieties of oak, hickory, ash, and some 
other sorts. I have watched the growth of timber there from year to year, until the 
present time, and am myself surprised at the result. The land was worth when 
cleared, perhaps $12 per acre, not more. There have been taken from it, during 
the last seven years, poles equal in value probably to $10 per acre, and $150 per 
acre would hardly buy the trees now standing upon it. So that, if we estimate the 
value of the land (at the time mentioned) at $12 per acre, and compute the interest 
upon this for sixteen years at six per cent, compound interest, adding the amount 

*"Second Annual Report of Board of Trustees of Illinois Industrial University," p. 352. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. . 8l 

of taxes accruing during the time, with interest upon this at the same rates, we 
have $100 per acre as the net profit of tlie timber crop; while, of course, the land 
itself has partaken of the generally enhanced value of surrounding real estate, and 
would now probably sell for $50 per acre, were the timber removed. 

* * * Let us estimate the expense of raising a growth of ten acres, plnnted 
with white ash and black walnut, five acres of each. These varieties grow at about 
the same rate, and are about equally valuable for lumber. The seeds of the ash, like 
all seeds of this class which ripen in the autumn, should be gathered when ripe, 
and kept in the ciTlar through winter. The walnuts, as other nuts, should be spread 
evenly upon the ground, where surface water will not stand, not more than two nuts 
in depth, and covered with two or three inches of mellow soil, that they m;iy freeze 
during the winter; to be planted as soon in spring as they show signs of sprouting. 
The land should be deeply plowed, late in the fall if practicable, and finely pulver- 
ized in early spring, and marked both ways as for corn, three feet eight inches 
apart. The tree seeds and nuts should be planted eleven feet apart, which will ad- 
mit of two rows of corn or potatoes between each two rows of trees, l-'y putting 
two or three seeds in a place, to be thinned out to one if both or all germinate, an 
even stand can be secured A belter way is to plant in rows, eleven feet apart, run- 
ning north and south, and three feet eight inches,— (in the maiks for corn). This 
will secure straight trees, being closer, and they may be thinned out to eleven feet 
each Way, when large enough to use for grape stakes, bean or hop poles. This will 
give SOU trees per acre, or 3,000 trees in all, allowing for some vacancies, though in 
all cases of tree planting, whether in groves or screens, a supply of good plants, 
grown elsewhere, should always be in readiness to use in filling vacancies, which 
should be done at the end of the first year. 

The preparation of ten acres, at $.5 per acre, would be $50. Average cost of seed, 
50 cents per acre, $5. Pianiing, $25. The cultivation, during the first five years, 
will be paid for in the crops grown between the rows. For cultivation from fifth 
to ninth years, four years, with horses only, $30 per year, $120. After this time no 
cultivation or care will be needed. This makes the entire cost, in seed and labor, of 
the ten acres of trees, $200. These trees will, at twenty-five years of age, average 
sixteen inches in diameter at the ground, and about ten inches at the height of six- 
teen feet. This will give, deducting waste in sawing, 120 feet of lumber per tree. 
Allowing one-sixth for damage by the elements and loss from other causes, we have, 
in round numbei's, 360,000 feet of lumber, which, at $50 per M., would amount to 
$18,000. The value of the tree tops for fuel would be equal to the cost of preparing 
the logs for the mill, and the expense in sawing would not exceed $5 per M. This, 
added to the cost of producing the trees, and the amount deducted from the value 
of the lumber, reaves $16,000 for the use of ten acres of land for twenty-five years, 
and the interest upon the amount expended in planting and cultivating the trees I 
This statement may be deemed incredible, perhaps, \)y those who have not pre- 
viousl}' turned their attention to the sul)ject; but after much studj' and many years' 
observation and measurements of growths of different vaiieties of trees, I am con- 
vinced that in all well-conducted experiments in growing artificial groves upon our 
large prairies, the profits will not fall far. if at all, short of the rates above slated. 
It must be borne in mind that trees standing at regular and proper distances upon 
rich prairie soil, and receiving good cultivation, will grow much faster than the 
same varieties found growling in natural groves. For a list of varieties suitable for 
planting in artificial groves, I would refer all interested to the lists recommended 
by our 8iate Horticultural Society, with the remark that the planter can hardly be 
in erior in planting any tree which is indigenous in a soil and climate similar to his 
own; while many trees, whose native homes are found in latitude north or south, 
have thus far proved valuable, as the o.«;ige orange and catalpa from the south and 
the red pine and white spruce and some others fiom the north. Some foreign vari- 
eties are equal or superior to any of our natives, among which are Eur.tpean or 
Scotch larch (best of all foreign deciduous trees), Austrian and Scotch pines, Nor- 
way spruce, and white willow. 

EULES OF E. FERRAKD ON EVEEGEEEN CULTUEE (Nebeaska.) 

Suggested by ten years experience as an evergreen tree raiser, and ten 
years as evergreen forest planter: 

1st. Never plant your evergreens in the fall of the year, but do it in the 
spring as early as you can obtain the trees. 
6 



82 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, v 

2d. Do not set your trees in the ground deeper by an inch than they stood 
in the nursery. Use no manure of any kind in planting evergreen or larch, 
but let the soil be mellow and friable, without lumps in contact with the 
roots. 

3d. Do not plant trees under two years old even for stocking a nursery, 
and for the garden and lawn give the preference to trees one to three feet 
high. 

4th. Never dig deep among the roots of your trees, but keep the soil mel- 
low and moist at the surface by a light mulching of bruised straw or hay, 
that will prevent the weeds from growing. 

5th. Last, but not least, get your trees direct from "a nursery, carefully 
avoiding trees that are heeled in by peddlers in the fall, because such are 
always killed at the root, notwithstanding their green appearance. And 
here allow me a little digression. Give your preference to home nixrseries. 
You have men here engaged in the business who have spent their lifetime 
judging what varieties of trees you could better plant for your profit and 
success. — {Fourth Annual He-port of Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, 
1873, p. 443.) 

METHOD OF CULTIVATION BY THE WINNER OF A PRIZE. 

A statement made by Hiram O. Minick, Nemaha county, Nebraska, to 
whom a premium was awarded for the cultivation of a grove of not less 
than 1,000 trees, gives the following account of his method of cultivation : 

The ground was plowed ia the spring, the same as for a crop of corn, and crossed 
out at distances of five feet b}' seven. Tiie cottouwood yearling trees were pro- 
cured on a sand bar in the Missouri river, in the fall previous, and heeled in during 
winter. By selecting a spot on the sand bar where the surface of the sand is but 
little above the water in the river, the yearling trees can be pulled out with great 
rapidity, probabl}^ at the rate of a thousand in twenty minutes, the operation being 
similar to pulling flax, and the trees can thus be taken up preserving their rootlets en- 
tire, thus securing them in the best possible condition for transplanting ; and taken 
at this age they receive but little check in their growth by the operation. Part of 
my grove was planted with the spade, the operation being the same as for a hedge. 
Another part of the grove was planted by drawing a deep furrow with the plow, 
and dropping the trees at the crossings of the furrows, the roots in the furrow and 
the tops projecting out, and then cover by throwing another furrow slice upon the 
roots and base of the stock with a plow. This left the trees leaning at an angle say 
of fort3^-five degrees, and fearing this position would be injurious to the trees, I 
took the pains to place some of them carefully ereet ; but upon an examination of 
the trees after one year's growth no difference was perceptible in those left leaning 
and those straightened up, as they invariably start their growth from a bud near the 
base of the stock and grow erect. The portion of my grove composed of cotton- 
wood contains about 3,000 trees, and was the work of two men, a boy and team, one 
day planting. The ground was cultivated similar to corn for two years after plant- 
ing. This required one hand and horse two daj-s each year to five acres of ground. 
The maple portion of my grove was planted by preparing the ground the same as 
above, and dropping the seed (which have been procured from trees on the Nemaha 
river) in the furrow and covering with the harrow, and cultivating as above. The 
seed ripens about the middle of May, and is generally very abundant. The follow- 
ing may be considered as a fair estimate of the cost of the grove : 

Hand and team one day procuring trees, - - - - - -$3 00 

Two men, boy and team employed in planting, - . _ . fj OO 

Plowing ground, -.-_.--. -.-6 00 
Two years' cultivation of trees, - 9 00 

Total, $22 00 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 83 

TIMBER-GROWING IN NEBRASKA.* 

* * * The best method of stocking our prairies with timber is to prepare 
the soil precisely as you would if you were going to raise a large crop of 
corn. The quickest way to raise a grove is with cuttings of cottonwood or 
willow. I plow, drag and mark the same as for corn, four feet each way, 
which will contain 2,722 hills to the acre. I should plant one-half to trees, 
four feet one way and eight the other, making 1,361 trees, and the other in 
corn for two years, to pay for cultivation, and that is all the cultivation 
needed. I should adopt the same plan in planting acorns, hickory nuts, white 
and black walnuts, soft maple, elm and ash, where the sprouts are one year 
old. White pine, arbor vitas, red cedar, Euro[)ean and American larch, when 
large enough to transplant, require more cultivation. I estimate the cost of 
preparing an acre and getting the seedlings of soft maple or ash (they can be 
had by the thousand along our streams) at $3 per acre. A man can plant 
two and a half acres per day. This is all the cost for ten years, except in- 
tei'est and taxes on land. I have 1,361 trees per acre; seven years from 
planting I will cut one-fourth, or 340 trees, equal to 15 cords of wood; the 
eighth year 15 cords more ; the ninth the same; the tenth year you see my 
profits. I should cut what is left, 456 trees. Allow four trees to the cord, 
so as not to over estimate it. I have several trees only ten years old which 
are 14 inches in diameter and 50 feet high ; four, I think, would make a 
cord. Allowing six trees to the cord, we have 76 cords, and with 45 cords 
cut before, 121 cords. At $3 per cord, allowing $1 for cutting, I have $242. 
I contend that five acres planted to cottonwood, after a growth of seven 
years, will furnish one family with fuel for one stove a lifetime, and seU 
enough to pay for the use of the land besides. I claim, after fifteen years 
experience in tree planting on this plan, which I adopted last spiing on 
Arboi* day, on my new farm in Otoe county, Nebraska, that the white wil- 
low {Salix alba) is equal to soft maple for wind breaks and fuel, and superior 
to all trees for rapidity of growth, as well as good for timber. Chestnut, 
too, is super-excellent. The climate influence of timber is discernible in the 
regular attraction of rain and tempering the chilly winds of the winter. 

PLANTING IN NEBRASKA.f 

* * * What shall we plant in Nebraska that will most quickly and 
fully meet our requirements ? Shelter and shade are our immediate and im- 
perative necessity. To provide these we unhesitatingly recommend, first of 
all our native trees, in the following order : Soft maple, willow, cottonwood, 
buckeye, ash. The maple is raised from seed as easily as corn ; makes a 
good shelter when thickly planted in rows, and a grateful shade where room 
is given to its lateral branches. It furnishes a fuel which, though it does 
not consume as slowly as oak and hickory, makes a quick, hot fire. The wil- 
low, objected to by many as a harbor for insects, yet ofi"ers a complete break 
to the keen winds, grows rapidly to a good size, and some varieties, as the 
white and weeping willow, furnish good timber for fuel and manufacturing 
purposes. The common osier, planted upon wet spots, will pay as well as any 
other crop on the farm. Cuttings of all varieties are easily and cheaply 
secured. 

As a source of profit, the raising of trees in Nebraska ranks next to the 
raising of stock. A quarter section planted with chestnut, spruce, larch, 

♦From an article by J. W. Davidson, in the Fourth Report of the State Board of Agriculture, p. 444. 
tFrom an article by James Morris, In the Fourth Report of the State Board of Agriculture, p. 454. 



84 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

maple, mammoth aspen, or even inferior trees, would, in ten years, yield a 
satisfactory return for the investment. 

CLOSE PLANTING OF COTTONWOOD. 

Judge Whiting, of Monona county, Iowa, remarked, in 1869, that he had 
at first planted cottonwood eight feet apart each way, giving each tree 64 
square feet of ground. They grew well, but too many branches in propor- 
tion to the amount of body wood. He had adopted the rule of planting 
three feet each way, giving nine square feet to a tree, and in this order they 
grew tall and straight, soon shaded the ground, and in three years needed no 
further cultivation than thinning as became necessary, by removing alternate 
rows and drawing out the poles with one horse and a chain. 

THINNING OF PLANTATIONS. 

In a young growth of natural seedlings, the plants are often densely 
crowded; bnt as they become larger the feeble ones die, aud others lose their 
lower branches ; and so, from year to year, the numbers diminish in the 
struggle for life, until but a small part of the first number comes to full 
maturity. The careful forester seeks to imitate this process of nature by 
securing a sufficient growth for shading the ground from an early period, and 
by reducing the numbers as the trees increase in size. These labors include 
the clearing out of the worthless bushes and bi'ambles that never come to 
useful size, but is chiefly secured by giving the greatest opportunity possible 
to the most valuable kinds. No rules can be given for the execution of this 
work^ without knowing the conditions, further than the general statement,^ 
that it should be done wherever required, and as often as may be necessary. 

With respect to the removal of a ]iart of the trees of the valuable kinds, 
where crowded, great prudence is to be exercised, because the wliole growth, 
if standing dense, if too much exposed at once, would be liable to suffer 
from the winds, or from the weight of snows. The precept laid down by 
Lorentz and Parade for the first thinning, is as follows :* 

The principal rule to be observed in a thinning of this kind, is to keep the trees 
conveniently close, and in a word, 7iever interrupt the continuity. In a young wood, 
which has hitherto grown very dense, the stems are very thin and slender, and have 
the greatest need of support. An imprudent clearing would expose them to storms ; 
they would be injured by the weight of snow and ice, or even bent down by the 
weight of their own tops In such a growth, it is to some extent necessary to save 
some of ihe poorer kind as protectors, and allow them to stand till the next thin- 
ning. We should also remember that the young trees must obtain the greatest 
height possible, and this can only be done by keeping them close. At an older 
stage of growth, the inconvenience of too much thinning would be less injurious. 
Mi;reover, if opened too much, the grass and the weeds will get in and alisorb a 
part of the aliment of the soil ; or, if it be a seed year, anew crop of tree seedlings 
will cover the ground, which is to be, if possible, avoided. 

The age at which the first thinning is needed cannot be fixed by any rule, as it 
depends upon the rate of growth and the various influences to which it is exposed. 
It should begin as soon as the lower branches begin to die and drop off, and should 
be repeated more thoroughly when the trees get to be three or four inches in diam- 
eter at the ground, and afterward, from time to time as may be necessary, till the 
forest gains its full maturity. These operations may be repeated every five years at 
first, and afterward at longer intervals. In the state forests of France, where the 
most valuable timber is the object, and time of less consequence, the interval is 
some fifteen or twenty years. Although in these operations no particular number 

•"Culture des Bois," 2d ed., p. 174. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 85 

of trees can be fixed as a rule, it may serve as some guide to give the following as 
approximately the proper number to be left : 

At 30 to 40 years— 1,300 to 1,620 to the acre.* 
At 50 to 60 years— 490 to 608 to the acre. 
At 70 to 80 years— 305 to 410 to the acre. 
At 90 to 100 years— 200 to 360 to the acre. 

The selection of trees to be removed in thinning out forests so as to allow 
the reserves the better chance for development, can best be done in summer, 
when the foliage is the densest, and the effect of shade the most apparent. 
An experienced eye can at such a time more readily j udge as to what trees 
are most promising and what can best be taken out. 

A recent writer upon practical forestry,f in speaking of the proper time 
for thinning a plantation, recommends that it be done early, and assigns as a 
reason that the remaining trees will then have seasonable opportunity for 
developing their lower side branches. He remarks : 

It is those branches situated upon the lower part of the stem of the tree that 
supply food and nourishment to the roots, and unless they are preserved vital at 
this critical period of the tree's existence, it very soon ceases to develop itself and 
make wood. In fact it ceases to grow to anything like satisfaction at that very 
early period when it should be making wood faster than any other. To the preser- 
vation of the lower branches of the celebrated larch forests of the Duke of Atho], 
more than anything else, may be attributed their successful growth. The larch 
there were planted 6 feet apart, and that distance, admitting that all the trees grew, 
allowed all the lower branches to grow 3 feet in length all around. But as many of 
them would no doubt decay, and from accident and other causes perish, many of 
the'trees would thereby produce their lower branches twice that length, hence the 
unparalleled results of the growth of the larch in these forests. 

Having witnessed so much injury inflicted upon young plantations, and some 
ientirely ruined by the lower branches being interfered with at a stage of growth 
too early, I would recommend, in the strongest possible terms, the special attention 
of all who have the management of plantations, to this particular aspect of the 
subject. It is often asked what rule can be given, and how it may be known when 
either individual trees or plantations have the exact and proper quantity of branches 
upon them. The rule for this is, as far as any rule can be given, to maintain a due 
proportion of girth to the height of the tree, and these proportions are, girth in 
inches to feet in height. For example, a tree twelve feet high should have a girth 
a little above the swell of the root of twelve inches, and so of larger sizes. When 
trees attain the height of 30 or 35 feet thinning should be entirel}'' discontinued, 
and frequently it should not be prolonged after tlie trees are 20 to 25 feet in height, 
but allow the plantation to grow undisturbed (except by cutting down dead or de- 
caying trees) till it is ripe for cutting down and clearing the ground. There is a 
danger of old trees having too many as well as too few branches ; but there is no 
danger of young trees having too many, and if the rule given should be observed 
there will be no superfluity of branches at anytime, for if the proportional girth is 
too great it can soon (if there are sufficient trees upon the ground) be reduced. 

The form of the tree up to the period when the thinning should be discontinued, 
■should be conical or tapering, both in the stem and general form of the tree. Af- 
ter thinning is discontinued the shape of the tree alters, both in the stem and 
branches ; the latter wither and fall ofE till only the top is covered, and the form 
gradually changes from a cone to a cylinder. The cause of this is the increase of 
woody deposits near the live branches, and the decrease of it where the branches 
ihave fallen off. 

This writer points out various reasons that should prevent late thinning 
of evergreen plantations, among which are the insufficiency of roots in trees 

*"InFrance, Duhamel and Viirenne de Fenille advised a much greater reduction, allowing, in fact, 
almost as ninch land lor an ofili as an apple tree in an orchard. The object in view was the thickness 
of the trees, rather than the height, and such broad spreading trniiiis as ten or eleven metres betweea 
the trees would produce, could not fail of yielding an abundance of tlie crooked pieces so much 
prized in ship building." 

t"On Thinning Plantations, as applicable in Practical Forestry," by Christopher Young Michle, of 
Cullen House, Cullen, " Transac. of Highland and As- Soc," 1876, p. 199. 



86 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

closely planted, and which are not able to support them when exposed to the 
winds, the injury that the sun may cause upon the trunks and branches that 
have been accustomed to the shade, and the effect upon the roots when the 
ground is too much exposed ; although all of these parts may in time become 
accustomed to these different conditions. He regards the thinning of such, 
forests a delicate and dangerous operation, except when practiced while 
young, and mentions some forests in splendid condition, which had scarcely 
been trimmed at all. In one the trees stood nine feet apart on an average, 
some as far as fifteen feet, and others as close as two feet. The market value 
of such a forest, if the trees were all sound, would be at least £300 per acre. 
The ground was a light, sandy gravel and very poor. He advises that all 
thinning should be begun before the side branches touch each other, and that 
it be continued till they are eight feet apart, after which he would leave 
them to nature to complete their growth. 

As to the larch, our author remarks, "It gains the most by thinning and- 
suffers least from it. It is very impatient of confinement, and enjoys free- 
dom although it comes late. On the bare, pole like trees that are left, lateral 
branches will form beyond anything witnessed in other forest trees. Unless 
the trees are sound and healthy, however, no lateral growth will take place 
by thinning." He mentions some stumps of this tree that had remained 
alive more than twenty years after cutting, without being able to account for 
the phenomenon. He regards the two greatest errors of foresters as "being 
too late in commencing to thin, and ct.ntinuing the operation too long. It 
does much good if done early, and equally much harm if done late." 

MEANS FOR DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS INFESTING TREES. 

Among the methods practiced with success for the destruction of insects 
upon fruit trees, and applicable to forest trees, may be mentioned the fol- 
lowing : 

Building fii-es in the evening, to attract miliars and other insects; which 
fall into the flames and perish. 

Jarring the trees by striking them with a heavy piece of scantling, padded 
at the en<l to prevent injm-y to the bark. Cloths should be spread under the 
trees to catch whatever falls. Some caterpillars that spin down on a silk 
fiber, may be swept down with a broom and destroyed. 

Smearing the bai'k with tar, molasses or printers' ink, or other viscid sub- 
stance, or what is better, wrapping paper or cloths around the trunk, and 
applying the tar to these instead of the bark. The substance should be 
renewed as it becomes dry. 

Surrounding the trunks with leaden troughs filled with oil, coal tar, or 
other liquids. Applying discs of tin, that, sloping downwards, prevent 
insects from passing. Binding locks of cotton wool around the trunks, &c. 

Washing the tininks and large branches with soft soap, or strong soap 
suds or lye, or whitewashing with lime. 

A wash composed of one pound of flour of sulphur and a peck of quick- 
lime, mixed in a close vessel with a snfficieHt quantity of hot water to make it 
of the consistence of common whitewash, has been used with advantage as a 
remedy against insects and mildew in forest and fruit trees. It should be 
applied when freshly made, in April, using a whitewash brush. 

Dusting the leaves of trees with lime, or with powdered hellebore, when 
the dew was on, has been mentioned as a remedy against leaf-eating 
insects. 

Another mode of protecting tree? from insects that crawl up the bark, con- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 8/ 

sists in fastening a rope around the tree and nailing a strip of tin, four inches 
wide, around the rope so as to project above and below. The females of the 
insect whose larvae is the cankerworm (^Anisoj^teryx vernata) will lay her 
eggs under the rope, where they may be killed by applying kerosene. 

Digging around the trees to kill or expose the larvae to frost has been tried 
with success. Others scatter corn around the roots, and allow hogs to root 
among it, thus tvirning up the soil, and doubtless destroying many of the 
puppge. Late plowing, by exposure to frosts and to birds, will assist in de- 
stroying insects on their nests. 

Hand-picking, the seeking of cocoons and nests of insects, especially in 
winter. Sweeping or burning down the nests of insects, and seeking and de- 
stroying them in their burrows, have been practiced with success. 

The vapor of benzine has been proposed as a remedy against insects infest- 
ing wood work. 

The injection of mineral salts and of creosote, &c., is a preventive against 
insect damages to timber. The sap-wood of white hickory, so liable to injury 
from boring insects, even after worked into spokes or made into carriages, is 
sometimes protected by these chemical processes. 

The apple-leaf crumpler sometimes contains the eggs of parasitic insects 
which would hatch, and by multiplying diminish the injuries done by this 
insect. It is therefore recommended to gather the affected leaves, and in- 
stead of burning them throw them on the ground in a bare place. The par- 
asitic insects would hatch and be saved, while such of the noxious kind as 
hatched would perish before reaching a feeding place. 

But many of the methods above enumerated are applicable only in a small 
way to trees in nurseries or favorite shade trees, and in forest culture we 
must seek relief from other sources, or, as sometimes happens, stand helpless 
and witness the great injuries done without hope of relief.* 

Immense damages are also committed in fields and gardens upon grains 
and fruits, and here, as in the forest, there is often evidence that an increase 
is often caused by killing off" the birds., 

SHELTER BELTS, WIND BREAKS, &c. 

A wind screen, if close, affords some protection on the windward side, by 
the calm which it produces. It is noticed that sheep and cattle will some- 
times find shelter on the front side of a screen. 

A writer in the JVew England Farmer (vi, 350), in noticing shelter, and 
its effect upon farm stock, says : 

It is indeed astonishing how much better cattle thrive in fields, even when mod- 
erately sheltered, than they do in an open, exposed country. In the breeding of 
cattle, a sheltered farm, or a sheltered corner of a faim, is a thing much prized; and 
in instances where fields are taken by the season for the purpose of fattening cattle, 
those most sheltered never fail to bring the highest rents. 

In the grazing regions of Texas, cattle seek the timber on the approach of 
a storm, and stay there while it continues, and on the western plains they 
will retreat before a storm a long distance to gain shelter. 

The freshness of pastiires interspersed with trees, is well known in the 

*In speaking of insects, we must distinguish between friends and foes, and not regard our allies at 
enemies, however disagreeable tliey at times becone. The ant is treated by the Gernn an forester as 
his friend, knowing as he does the services which these littleinsects render. Besides furnishing in its 
eggs a dainty food to many kinds of song birds, it pursues the larva; of leaf-eating insects with great 
avidity, mounting to the highest branches in pursuit of its prey, and destroying these destructive par- 
asites of trees in great abundance. A nest of ants introduced in the midst of a plantation of cabbages 
has been known to protect the plants from the worms that were destroying them.— "iZecwe dcs Eaua 
it Forets, xiii, 303. 



88 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

dairy regions of the north, and is doubtless partly due to the shelter that 
trees afford to the winter snows. 

The prevalence of dry southwesterly winds in the Western States, has sug- 
gested a practice, quite advantageous in fruittrees, of leaning the trees toward 
that point, so as better to resist the wind, as well as to shade the trunk from 
the sun. It is also found a good practice to allow the tops of fruit trees to 
grow low, so as better to resist the drying effects of the wind and sun. The 
same reasons would lead to a like practice with the outside rows of forest 
trees, especially on the sides of a grove most exposed. It would be unneces- 
sary in the interior, as if properly set, the trees would shade one another 
sufficiently for all purposes, after they had got well started. 

Dr. John A. Warder, in a paper read before the Northern Illinois Horti- 
cultural Society,* in speaking of shelter for fruit trees, says: 

Evergreens may be planted here and there through the orchard with very great 
advantMge. For this purpose the most robust varieties should be selected, such as 
the Scotch and Austrian pines, and the beautiful Norway spruce, from Europe, or 
our own native, the noble silver pine, the red or Norway pine, the Banksiana, the 
white spruce, the common red cedar and arbor vitae. All are robust and hardy, 
rapid growers, and valuable for shelter and for timber, but screens are what we need. 
A single row of such trees outside, will afford a great deal of protection from the 
winds after a few years, indeed, from the first; but a closely planted belt of two or 
three rows will be much more effective. These should not le set too niar the or- 
chard trees; two rods may be allowed, or, if closer, the outer rows of the apples can 
be cut out in a few years to make room for these nurses when they may require 
more space. The evergreens may be set in double on triple rows, and alternately, 
so that every three shall be opposite the space in the next row. In planting a triple 
row, it is well to set the Pinus strohus in the middle, with Norway or white spruce, 
or red cedar, on either side, planting these from eight to ten feet apart. * * * 
The hedges ^-hould not be set too closely to those shelter belts, especially where 
they are allowed to grow high lor screens. At one rod they will soon interfere with 
the trees, so that a space of two -rods may be better — outside- the belt. In large 
plantations it may be well to set rows of evergreens arross the orchard, dividing it 
into two or more sections. For this purpose, a single row of Norway spruces will 
produce a very fine effect, or the American arbor vitse can be used as an evergreen 
hedge, and kept to a height of ten or twelve feet if desirable. 

Both these plants are eminently well adapted for close shelters, and will bear the 
shears, which help to make them a perfect screen and wind break. Deciduous trees 
are also very desirable as shelter belts, and for the sake of immediate effect the quick- 
growing kinds are preferred, such as the soft maple, or even the white Avillow, but 
more especially the European larch. * * * These should be planted 
pretty thickl}^ say five or six feet apart, and in strips of three or four rods wide, 
to produce their best effects, both as shelters and for timber, for which they are 
highly recommended. Do not be misled by the swampy habits of the native tama- 
rack, nor induced to set the larch in the sloughs, which should be planted with 
willows. 

PROTECTION TO NURSERIES. 

FRENCH EXPERIENCE. 

Screens or wind breaks (says Carieref) are indispensable to a nursery, as 
well to shield the plants from the hot sun, as to shelter other kinds from cold 
in winter. Their direction will vary according to the contour of the ground, 
but they should almost always run east and west. Wind breaks, according 
to local circumstances, may be oblique, either to the north or south, and it 
may be necessary to have them in a line between these points, for the cli- 
matic conditions under which the nursery is placed, and surrounding objects, 
such as a mountain, a grove, a river or a lake, or large buildings, may detei'- 

*"Transactioi)s," fourth meeting, p. 68. 
tPeplnJ«r«», pp. 38-41. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 89 

mine the course of prevailing winds, and observation alone can decide as to 
■which are the most prejudicial. Having settled upon the direction of the 
lines, the next thing to determine is the species with which they should be 
planted. Some kiads are preferable to others, and they vary with the soil 
and climate. We always prefer evergreen trees;, but these are for the most 
part of slow growth, and when the intention is only to shelter the nursery in 
summer against the ardor of solar heat, the choice is left among the decidu- 
ous kinds of rapid growth, which do not shed their branches too near the 
ground, and of which the foliage and aspect is sufficiently ornamental. 
There is another consideration that is not less important. We should not 
•select trees with long, tracing roots, which, by spreading, so to speak, "ea< 
up the soilj'^ by robbing the plants even when growing in pots. In these re- 
spects we have two species of the Taviarix that unite almost all the good 
qualities required, the T. tetranda and T. Indica. These trees are very ac- 
commodating as to soil, have a hardiness well tried, and a very i-apid growth 
— endure prolonged drought without injury, and appear indifferent to excess 
of moisture. Their roots are small, close, and but little spreading ; they 
bear trimming, and their elegant foliage of light, feathery spray form plumes 
of most pleasing effect, while their blossoms of rose, flesh colored, or almost 
white tint, in spikes or branching panicles, present a most agreeable aspect. 
The first of these blooms in April and May, and the other toward the end 
of summer and in autumn. The tamarisk grows easily from slips, which 
may be set from November to February, and will form the first season shoots 
from one to two meters high. They should be set about eight inches apart, 
and may be cut back when twenty inches high to make them thicken up. 
Sometimes a trellis of grape vines will answer every purpose of a screen for 
young fruit trees. 

But, as we remarked at first, the evergreen species are generally employed 
as a screen, arid of the conifers the Siota orientalis is particularly suitable 
when the soil is light, warm, and but little calcareous. In places where the 
soil is more moist and more clayey, and the climate more severe, the Thuya 
occidentalis is much more hardy. The common yew ( Taxus haccata) is also 
very precious as a wind break. Its foliage is very dense, and of a green so 
deep that it borders closely upon black, and the perfect docility with which 
it bears clipping renders it a most valuable tree for a shelter hedge. We 
someoimes employ the common pitch tree [J^icea excelsa), but this tends to 
grow to a large tree, and readily sheds its lower branches. The red cedar 
(Juniperus Virginiana) is also sometimes used as a wind break, and in pro- 
per soils produces a fine effect. In many districts of southern France the 
pyramidal cypress {Cupressus fastigiata) is used to advantage. 

Of the evergreen shrubs other than conifers, we have the box {^Buxus 
$empervirens), evergreen oak (^Puercus ilex), the holly, the Buplevrum fruti- 
cosum, the Rhamnus oleifolius, the Aucuha japonica, and the Japanese 
spindle tree (JEJvoaymics japo7iica). The latter may be used when we need 
shelter of limited extent, for they are generally of low growth. In some 
places we may plant the Lauro-cerasus vulgaris, colchica, and lusitanica/ and 
in other cases may employ shrubs with semi-persistent leaves, as the 
Mhamnus hyhridus, Ligustrum japonicum, ovalifoliurny and vidgare. In 
some privileged localities of southwestern France, we may plant the Mham- 
nus alaternus, Arbutus uredo, Viburnum tinus, and a host of other species. 

The breadth of space to be reserved between the lines of shelter varies 
somewhat according to the use, but it should be never less than two metres 
between, because the paths for service would be always of about this width. 
If there be no necessity of using the ground sparingly, it would be better to 



90 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, 

give them greater width, so that the plants sheltered may be a little away 
from the screen, and it would be still better if a path could be allowed on 
both sides. 

TIMBER-BELTS FOR FARM PROTECTION IN KANSAS. 

Mr. W. Marlatt, of Manhattan, Kansas, in a paper read before the State 
Horticultural Society, in 1875, after alluding to the frequent and severe 
losses of fruit and forest trees in Kansas, and condemning altogether any at- 
tempt at planting until the soil was as thoro-ughly prepared as for corn, he 

says : 

With my present experience as to the peculiarities of the soil and climate of 
Kansas, I would plant timber only in the form of shelter belts for the protection of 
farm crops, theorcliard, the stock range, and the home and its surroundings, being 
especially careful to shelter the latter from the north, northwest and northeast 
winds, leaving the south and east, particularly, open to the sunshine and south 
winds, which are nearly always warm in winter and cool in summer. By planting 
the shelter belts on the higher and more exposed ground, where practicable, the 
value of the farm may be greatly enhanced at a comparatively small outlay, aes- 
thetically as well as practically. From experience and observation, I am of the 
firm belief that if 40 acres in every quarter section were thus occupied by judi- 
ciously located timber belts, the remaining three-fourths would produce more than 
all of it would without the protection thus afforded. I have seen the soil in ex- 
posed situations blown away to the depth of six inches, or as deep as the land has 
been plowed, in a single season. An effective shelter belt would not only remedy 
this evil, but would serve largely as a preventive of drought ; lirst, by measurably 
warding off the dry, hot winds that sometimes sweep over the country as a blight- 
ing, wltliering curse; and, secondly, as a shelter for the snow, that is otherwise 
blown away into the ravines and hollows, where it is not needed ; and, again, in 
breaking the force of the fierce storms that almost every season do more or lesa 
injury to the growing corn and other farm crops. 

I recommend the cottonwood for tiniber belts, rather than some other more valu- 
able species of wood, from the fact that it takes kindly to our prairie soil, grows 
rapidly and tall, and is yet able to withstand the force of the winds ; and, on the 
whole, seems to fill the bill more nearly than any other at hand just now. To ren- 
der this shelter mere effectual. I would plant oi^t a single row of box-elder, or some 
other spreading or low-heading tree, on either side of the cottonwood belt. I 
recommend the box-elder for this purpose, from the fact that it is never stripped of 
its leaves in summer, not even by the omniverous hopper. As this belt attains to 
age and size it must l3e systematically thinned out by removing, from year to year, 
a certain number of the less likely or less thrifty trees, else, in the course of time, 
you will find them dying out en masse for want of sufficient nourishment to keep 
up the vital force necessary for their continuous growth and well-being. As they 
are removed thus gradually, other varieties of forest trees may, with success and 
profit, be made to take the place thus vacated, and for this purpose, where they can 
be had easily, 1 would especial!}^ recommend red cedar. At all events, in planting 
a grove, stick to our native forest trees, rather than any of foreign growth, however 
highly they may be extolled by parties interested in their sale, or without an expe- 
rimental knowledge as to their adaptibility to our peculiar soil and climate. 

A few words as to the best mode of planting such a belt must suifice for thia 
phase of the subject. Supposing the ground to be in proper condition, and the 
trees ready to hand, with team and plow strike a straight furrow through the centre 
of the piece to be planted, and back-furrow three rounds, going 8 to 10 inches 
deep Then, with an armful of small trees pass along in the furrow, and at every 
four feet stoop down and place a tree in the loose soil thrown up at the last round, 
letting the top lean toward the ridge. Then turn on a furrow, and so on at every 
fourth furrow, until a dozen or more rows have been thus put in their place. Then 
passing along each row, straighten up each tree with the hand, and at the same 
time press the earth firmly about it with the feet. In this way, with one man to 
run the team, and two others to put the trees in place and straighten them 
up, two acres may be planted with 5,000 trees in a day, at a cost, aside from pro- 
curing the trees, of not more than $5. In this manner the farm, when compara- 
tively level, may be surrounded and intersected, where necessary, with shelter belts 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. QI 

at a comparatively small cost, and the value of the place may be doubled in five 
years? 

In orchard and small fruit culture. I consider protection of some sort as abso- 
lutely essential to success. 'I have found most kinds of srtiall fruits doing best 
when partially sheltered from the h©t sun ; while the sad effects of the burning 
Bouthwest winds two summers ago is hut too apparent in nearly all the orchards of 
Kansas to-day. In my own, I have found, generally speaking, the least damage 
done where most effectually sheltered on the south and west.* 

In asserting the value of wind breaks to growing crops, or as a shelter for 
stock, it is impossible to appraise the benefit pecuniarily with anything like 
the exactness with which we measure and sell the actual products of the 
forest. We may, however, sometimes arrive at a close approximation by 
comparing the difierences shown where the protection is pi'esent or absent. 
In illustrating this point, Mr. O. B. Galusha, of Illinois, has presented some 
instructive examples :f 

In the year 1862, at the time when spring wheat and oats, in the northern portion 
of the State, were just past their bloom, and a portion of the grain in the milky 
state, we were visited by a storm from the northwest, which swept over this portion 
of the State, prostrating nearly all the grain not sheltered by timber. * * * 
In one locality a single line of broad and tall willows, closely planted, proved a 
sulBcient check to the wind, so that a field of wheat adjoining it on the east, stood 
erect and was harvested with a machine, while in exposed situations the shrunken 
grain, if saved at all, was often gathered by the slow and tedious process of hook- 
ing it up with scythes. Many thousand acres were left to dry, and were burned 
upon the groimd which two or three weeks before had promised abundant crops. 
The extra expense of gathering the grain of that harvest could not have been less 
than 50 cents per acre on the whole amount harvested. I traveled quite extensively 
over this portion of the State before and soon after the harvest of that year, and 
am convinced that one half the value of the wheat and oats in the territory passed 
over by that storm was destroyed by it. There were sown in that year, as per census 
reports, in the thirty counties lying north of the Burlington, l^eoria and Logans- 
port railroad, about 1,200,000 acres of wheat, and at least one-fourth as many of 
oats. Allowing one-tenth of these crops to have been protected by timber, we find 
the less to have been equal to 540,000 acres of wheat, and 130,000 acres of oats. 
Computing the wheat at 15 bushels per acre, and the value at 50 cents per bushel, 
the oats, at 30 bushels per acre and price 20 cents per bushel, Ave have the sum of 
$4,860,000 as the cash value of property in these two crops alone, which was de- 
stroyed in a single storm in an area of little more than one-third of our State. Al- 
lowing 150,000 acres to have been burned, or not harvested, and adding to the 
amount of loss per acre the remainder of the nine-tenths (lodged grain), equal to 
$600,000, it swells the amount to the enormous sum of $5,460,000. Let us see how 
much it would cost to plant and cultivate screens to prevent such losses. A double 
row of white or golden willows, with trees in the second row set opposite the 
spaces in the first, planted on the west side of every 80-acre lot, would doubtless 
prove sufficient, as they would, at the age of twelve years, form a dense wall of 
foliage about forty feet high, and would, of course, increase in size for many years 
thereafter. These would cost per mile of screen, about as follows : Average value 
of two acres of land, at $40 per acre, $80 ; preparation of the soil and plantiog with 
strong cuttings, $10 ; cultivating the first two years, $20 ; making a total cost, with 
purchase money of the land, $110. After two years no care will be needed, save a 
mulch of refuse straw, to be renewed once in two or three years, the cost of which 
will be more than repaid in the partial protection which the trees will render pre- 
vious to the twelfth year. 

There are in the thirty counties referred to about 16,625 sections of prairie land. 
This will require 66,50(5 miles of screen if planted as above proposed, making the 
entire cost $7,315,000. Thus, we see that without estimating the immense damage 
done to fruit and other crops, Ihe wheat and oats destroyed in that storm would, if 
saved, have paid about three-fourths the entire expense of growing timber belts 
throughout that entire territory. 

♦"Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society," for 1875, p. 113. 

f "Lecture at tlie Illinois Industrial University in 1869, published in the second Report of its trustees," 
p. 356. 



92 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

I think it may be safely estimated, that an average of one-twelfth part of all our 
crops of grain and large fruits are destroyed by violent winds, which such a system 
of protection, or its eg^aivalent in groves, would so fai; check as to prevent the de- 
struction. If this is true, sucli protection would save to the husbandman and or- 
chardist its entire cost every two, or at most, three years. Such protection, too, 
would, by causing the snow to remain spread evenly over the surface, as before 
hinted, enable the farmer to raise winter wheat in localities where it is impossible 
now to do so. If we add to the benefits of the culture already considered those far- 
reaching and incalculably valuable climatic influences which would flow therefrom, 
we must all admit the necessity of commencing this great enterprise at once, and 
prosecuting it with vigor. 

I do not introduce this plan of planting straight belts of trees, a quarter of a mile 
apart, because it is the most desirable plan which can be adopted, for no man of 
taste would regard it as such. The eye would soon tire of such stiffness and mo- 
notony in the landscape. Tree-planting may be so planned and conducted as to 
give beauty to the landscape, and at the same time secure nearly all the combined 
benefits of protection to crops, timber for uses in the mechanic arts, and those cli- 
matic influences which we all regard as so important. Of course no rules can be 
given for such tree-planting. Generally where the surface is somewhat undulat- 
ing (for we have no hills), the planting should be done mainly upon the higher por- 
tions of the farms, and along the water courses. Where the surface is level, belts 
may be planted upon the hoith and west of the farms, with groves upon the least 
valuable portions. These last woijld intercept the straight lines and give diversity. 
But if each prairie farmer were to follow his own tastes, or adapt his planting to 
secure his greatest profit in timber or protection to his own farm, planting about 
one-tenth of his land with trees, it is probable that all the desirable ends which we 
have been considering will be gained, and the landscape sufficiently diversified to 
be pleasing to the eye. 

Here then * * * we have two pictures presented us. In the one we 
look into the future, and see wide spread desolation, an extended treeless country, 
visited bj'- destructive storms, by severe drouths, with its streams dried up, and food 
for man and beast in such scarcity that the poor can scarcely obtain a supply. In 
the other, we see a charming landscape, a rich fertile country, a population enjoy- 
ing all the blessings which flow' from peace and plenty. 

The following suggestions concerning shelter-belts are oiTered by Messrs. 
H. M. Thompson and son, of Milwaukee, Wis. : 

It has been found that belts from seven to eight rods in width are, all things 
taken together, the best. These belts should be planted on the outside with some 
evergreen whose roots strike deep into the ground and do not spread near the sur- 
face, and whose leaves and branches will afford protection from the winter winds. 
In the center can be placed the deciduous trees. If, however, the farmer wishes 
first to experiment, and should think bells of this width entail too much cost and 
labor, belts of two or three rows will be found to make remunerative returns, and 
even one row planted, say not more than six feet apart, will give rich returns in in- 
crease of crops, and add very much to the attractions of the estate. The trees for 
planting should be those best adiipted to the soil and situation, and will vary much 
with different localities. There are, however, certain trees, such as the larch, 
Scotch and pitch pine, that are so well adapted to dry soils, rich or poor, and the 
Norway spruce, Scotch, Austrian and white pines, American arbor vitaj and ash, 
which are best for moist, rich soils.aud which so fully meet the wants of the farmer, 
that they should always form a large portion of his planting. Belts composed of 
Scotch pines, Norway spruce, white ash, and European larch, planted from the out- 
side of the belt, in the order named, have been found to meet, in almost every par- 
ticular, the need for which they are planted, and to afford to the farmer every pro- 
tection in the way of timber that he can want. The value of such a timber- belt is 
felt very early, and cuttings for stakes, hoop-poles, bean-poles, fuel, &c., begin 
much earlier than may be thought; while the after-products of hop-poles, tele- 
graph-poles, railroad-ties, and lumber for general use, follow year by year, and are 
a constant annual source of profit. 

Prof. H. H. McAfee, formerly of the Iowa Agricultural College, a close 
observer in forest culture, in an article on shelter-belts,* remarks that prai- 

»"Iowa Horticultural Report," 1875, p. 292. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 93 

rie farms need shelter most on the west, next on the north, next on the south, 
while their usefulness on the east is not so great, though sufficient to call for 
planting. A good combination for an evergreen belt is two or three rows of 
white pine for center, two rows of Scotch or Austrian pine on each side, and 
two rows of red cedar or arbor vitse outside of these, making ten or eleven 
rows, and giving, by different rates of growth, a. belt with a conical cross- 
section, and limbs from the ground up. Another good evergreen combina- 
tion would be Norway spruce for center, white spruce next, and black spruce 
and red cedar or arbor vitse outside. ThesQ kinds were hardy in Iowa, ex- 
cept in too great drought. A shelter-belt of cheap soft wood may be made of 
two rows of gray or white willow, flanked by one row of Lombardy poplar on 
each side, rows eight feet apart. Willow alone is apt to spread too much, 
and this poplar alone is apt to lose its side branches, but thvxs combined, the 
poplar, which is always erect, holds the willow up and the willow grows 
twigs enough to make a fair barrier. But any kind of tree, except perhaps 
such thinly-foliaged trees as the walnut and coffee-nut, will make fair shelter 
belts, if enough width is given them. At least ten rows of any of the maj^les, 
birches, poplars, or other common woods should be put in the belts, or eight 
rows of white or scarlet oak, which holds leaves in winter. Where road-side 
planting is done to obviate snow-drifting in winter or to furnish shade and 
shelter in summer, less rows are needed. 

Judge C. E, Whiting, of Monona county, Iowa, in reporting to the State 
Horticultural Society in 1876 (p. 15G), mentions that he had on his farm of 
1,800 acres about forty acres of timber in belts around his fields, varying 
from single rows to twenty rows, and of different ages from eighteen years 
down to one; bvit mostly from five to twelve years. In regard to the influ- 
ence of these belts on the growth of crojos, he says : 

As my groves increase in height, I still find that the visible influence of this pro- 
tection — with almost mathematical precision— amounts to one rod on the ground to 
one foot height of the tree. Whether from cause or from accident, I will not pre- 
tend to say, but leave it for the entomologist to decide — I record, that during the 
great grasshopper visitations of 1873 and 1876, all my fields surrounded by timber 
escaped almost wholly uninjured. The same was true of the farms opened on our. 
Missouri bottom timber. Will Professor Bessey please inform ns if a Colorado lo- 
cust, with an eye to beauty and utility, respects a Held surrounded by green grow- 
ing trees ? We know from long experience that the summer storms, the early frosts 
and the tierce, unrelenting winter blizzards do pass these fields by uninjured and 
unscathed, and why should not a locust as well ? I would make no raateri:d change 
in my order of planting ; on our treeless prairies, where tiral)er is wanted quick for 
fuel, shelter, and other purposes, the cottonwood, in my estimation, still stands 
^mgi among all our native trees, I am now using my round cottonwood posts cut 
from my young tlirifty-growing trees, peeled, seasoned, and the posts set in the 
ground, boiled a few niinutes each in coal-tar, at an expense of about one cent each, 
tliat bid fair to outlast oak not so treated. Maple, willow, ash and walnut should 
follow in the order named, the latter to be planted on the deepest soils. 

NEED OF WIND-BREAKS FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN 

LIYES. 

A winter seldom passes without deaths from storms on the prairies of the 
Northwest. Mr. James T. Mott, in an article on timber culture in the Iowa 
Horticultural Report of 1872 (p. 109), after seventeen years' residence in 
Iowa, says: 

I have many times wondered how it could be that people were so easily lost in 
these storms; why it was that a man in good health, strong in limb, and well 
clothed, could not go a few rods from his house to the barn, to care for his stock, 
without danger of death; why whole sleigh-loads of people were frozen to death 



94 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

■witliin a hundred rods of dwellings, and this in the same location where I was living. 
But lately it has been my fortune (or I thought at the time raisfortuoe) to be caught 
in one of these storms in Minnesota; and it took only a short time for me to see 
through the whole thing. I felt the wiad first blowing softly from the south; in 
thirty minutes it changed to a fierce gale from the west, bringing with it a bank of 
snow that would compare to the rush of water as the flood gates are opened in a 
mill-race, and with a force that, no man or team could travel against it a mile, as 
steady as in a bellows run by machinery, being filled with snow as fine as the finest 
dust, and so thick one could not see ten feet, filling the eyes and nostrils of man 
and beast. The storm lasted three days, * * and the news is of hundreds 
dead; people frozen in stage coaches, whole sleigh-loads returning home from town, 
men standing dead with hand on the stable door latch, others had saved themselves 
by burrowing in snow banks — little children lost going home from school, pissen- 
gers in railroad cars two days without food, &c. * * * More people 

have been frozen within the last 3"ear, in Northwest Iowa and West Minnesota, than 
were ever murdered by the Indians in those counties since their settlement. * * 
The people are now petitioning their legislatures for some kind of protection from 
these storms, asking that wire fences and storm houses be built along the traveled 
roads— asking them to do something for their safety. I see none tliat would do but 
timber planting. It alone would stop these terrible winds, modify the climate, and 
furnish land marks for the traveler. 

SCREENS OF WOODLAND AS A BARRIER AGAINST THE 
PROGRESS OF INSECTS. 

The Hon. J. G. Knapp, of Madison, Wis., in a lecture delivered afc the 
University course at Rockford, 111., in February, 1870, notices the influence 
of forests in intercepting the progress of insects and the spread of contagious 
and destructive fungi. He says : 

The chinch-bug of the prairies was lately as much dreaded by those who knew 
their ravages * * * , but these can never traverse a belt of thick woods 
seven or eight rods in width to devastate an adjoining field. The cool, damp soil 
of such a belt presents an impassible barrier to their march, the same as to the 
grasshopper. 

Citing from I. T. Thomas, he continues : 

Another important advantage has been occasionally afforded by the shelter o^ 
woodlands. It is well known that rust in wlieat is commonly most prevalent on 
low and mucky lands; yet, at other times, and in its most virulent form, it seems 
borne on the wind, and often destroj'^s thousands of acres on all kinds of soil in one 
sweeping blight. An instance of this kind occured in Nortbern Indiana, ia 1840. 
Early and late sown, on compact and spongy soil, on hill and dale, cleared laud and 
prairie, were all alike affected. In every instance, however, where the crop Wcis 
sheltered by woodland, it was least injured. An extensive farmer in Ontario 
county, New York, infarmed me some ye irs ago, that out of two hundred acres of 
promising wheat, wnich he then had growing, all was completely destroyed, except 
ilwse 'portions sheltered by woods, the total loss being four or five thousand dollars, 
most of which, he believes, would have been saved, had his land been protected by 
timber belts. 

INSTRUCTION IN FOREST CULTURE. 

RECOMMENDED AT THE STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AT AMHURST. 

The executive committee of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, (Am- 
hurst), in a report made in February, 1876, included the following recom- 
mendation, which, being fully discussed, was adopted : 

It is also recommended, that some instruction be given in forestry, both theo- 
retically and practically, and that special attention be pnid to the raising of forest 
trees from seed, their care and treatment in nursery, their permanent planting in 
various portions of the farm, and the subsequent care of the plantations. The time 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, 95 

is HOt far distant, when every farmer in the country will, in his own interest, be 
obliged to give some attention to the subject of tree-planting, and such a course as 
is here recommended, will be of advantage to the students, and to tbe State at large. 
Similar considerations apply to the raising of fruit-trees. A nursery of reliable 
standard fruit-trees, adapted to one section, ought to be a source of some income to 
the institution. 

Bristol County. — Mr. Morrill Allen, of Pembroke, Mass., in a letter re- 
lating to tree planting, written December, 1874^ says : 

A man in Bristol county,about fifty years ago, planted a field, somewhat exhausted, 
with acorns ; when the young trees were two or three inches high, he plowed and 
hoed, as in a field of Indian corn; the trees grew, to the astonishment of the whole 
neighborhood, and in less than forty years, were ripe for the ax. About a century 
since, there was an experiment in this town in planting the white oak for ship tim- 
ber, the success of which ought to have encouraged frequent repetition. The 
grove was in cutting for timber thirty years since, and a man between seventy and 
eighty years old told me that in his boyhood he assisted in planting these trees. It 
is not to the existing generation so hopeless an undertaking as some would repre- 
sent it, to plant forest trees, even those of slow growth. I recollect measuring the 
circumference of an oak tree, in West Newbury, the acorn of which was planted by 
Benjamin Poore, who is yet comparatively a young man, and I think it measured 
twenty-seven inches. It is a well proportioned, handsome tree. Had he planted at 
the same time fifteen acres of similar soil, it would have become before now an in- 
exhaustible wood lot for the use of one family. 

The general elevation of this district above sea level, is about 80 feet; 
highest point, 210; prevailing winds southwest, and rainfall 46 inches. 
The native timber consisted of several species of oak, the walnut, maple, pine 
and hemlock, used for lumber, A variety of trees for fuel and cabinet work 
are found in the forests. There has been but little clearing within the last 
century ; the woods have simply been cut off and allowed to grow again. 
In a few cases, forest planting has been done on a small scale, but so recently 
that no result has been reached, though the plantings are usually in a healthy 
condition. Fires set by locomotives, or by careless persons, sometimes do a 
great deal of damage. — JElislia Shade, Somerset, Bristol county, Mass. 

Having been, for thirty years past, more or less engaged in buying wood- 
land and cutting it off, I wish to state that I know, from careful observation, 
that an acre of good land, where there is a mixture of the several kinds of 
oak and walnut (hickory), cut off while young and thrifty, will produce, 
during the first 20 or 25 years, a cord of wood yearly, I believe that most 
kinds of hard wood are worth 20 or 30 per cent, more for fuel at the age of 
25 years than at 75. — {A. M. Ide, of South Attleborough, to George B. 
Emerson : Trees of 3£assachusetts, p, 26.) 

The Massachusetts Society for Promotion of Agriculture, in April, 1876, 
offered premiums of $1,000, $600 and $400 for first, second and third best 
plantations of not less than five acres, to be made of European larch, except 
in Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket counties, in which the Scotch pine or 
the Corsican fir, or both the latter, must be used. The plantations must 
originally consist of at least 2,700 trees to the acre, and the land must be 
poor, worn out, or unfit for agricultural use. 

They also offered $600 and $400 for first and second best plantations of 
five acres or more of American white ash, at first having 5,000 trees to the 
acre. 

The plantation must be made in the spring of 1877, and the prizes are to 
be awarded in the summer of 1887. The directions for planting were as 
follows : 



g6 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

LARCH AND PINE. 

• When the nature of the soil will permit, shallow furrows, 4 feet apart, 
should be run one way across the field to be planted. This is best done 
during the autumn previous to planting. Then by planting in the furrows, 
and ins^erting the plants 4 feet apart in the rows, the whole land will be cov- 
ered with plants standing 4 feet apart each way. Planted at this distance, 
2,720 plants will be required to the acre. On hilly, rocky land, which is 
especially recommended for the cultivation of the European larch, and where 
it is impossible to run furrows, it will be only necessary to open with a spade 
holes lai'ge enough to admit the roots of the plants, care being taken to set 
them as near four feet each way as the nature of the ground will admit. In 
very exposed situations on the sea coast, it is recommended to plant as many 
as 5,000 trees to the acre, the plants being inserted more thickly on the out- 
sides of the plantations, in order that the young trees may furnish shelter to 
each other. 

Ji is im23erative to plant the larch as early in the season as the ground can he 
worked. No other tree begins to grow so early, and if the operation of 
transplanting it is delayed until the new shoots have pushed, it is generally 
followed by the destruction of the plant. 

The Scotch and Corsican pines can be planted up to the first of May. 



Land in condition to grow corn or an average hay crop, is suited to pro- 
duce a profitable crop of white ash. Deep, moist land, rather than that 
•which is light and gravelly, should be selected for this tree. The land should 
be plowed, harrowed and made as mellow as possible during the autumn pre- 
vious, that the trees may be planted as soon as the ground can be worked in 
the spring. 

As soon as the frost is out, mai'k out the field with furrows 4 feet apart, 
and insert the trees 2 feet apart in the rows. This will give 5,445 plants to 
the acre, which, at the end of ten years, must be thinned one half.. These 
thinnings are valuable for barrel hoops, etc. 

It is recommended to cultivate between the rows for two or three years to 
keep down the weeds and prevent the soil from baking. A.t the end of that 
time the ground will probably be entirely shaded by the trees, and further 
cultivation will not be necessary. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR TREE PLANTING. 

Be careful not to expose the roots of trees to the wind and sun more than 
is necessary during the operation of transplanting. More failures in tree 
planting arise from carelessness in this particular than from any other cause. 

To prevent this, carry the trees to the field to be planted in bundles cov- 
ered with mats; lay them down, and cover the roots with wet loam, and only 
remove them from the bundles as they are actually required for planting. 

In planting, the roots should be carefully spread out and the soil worked 
among them with the hand. 

When the roots are covered press the eaith firmly about the plant with 
the foot. 

Insert the plant to the depth at which it stood before being transplanted. 

Select, if possible, for tree planting a cloudy or a rainy day. It is better 
to plant after the middle of the day than befoi'e it. 

All young plantations must be protected from cattle and other browsing ani- 
mals — the greatest enemies, next to man, to young trees and the spread of 
forest growth. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 97 

EXPERIMENTS OF D. 0. SCOEIELD IN TREE PLANTING, AT 

ELGIN, ILL.* 

This plantation was begun in 1858, with imported and American seedlings 
and seeds ; and is on a rich, dry, undulating prairie, with black loam pass- 
ing into clay at a depth of 4 to 6 feet, where it is underlaid by coarse gravel. 
It consisted at first of about 12,000 trees; 8,000 set from 1858 to 18G2, and 
4,000 in 1866. The plants were usually from 8 to 12 inches long, were 
transplanted in nursery rows, and in two years to their permanent places. 
The ground had been cultivated three years from prairie sod, and was well 
pulverized. The planting was done in furrows of proper depth, level places 
of proper depth being prepared by the spade, and care being taken to pre- 
vent drying of the roots. The larch (forming the greater part) were 2 to 4 
feet high when transplanted, and the evergreens 1-^- to 3 feet. Having been 
transplanted once or twice in the nursery, they were well stocked with roots. 
They were cultivated three to six years, and beans planted in the wider 
spaces ; and from this time, excepting the black walnuts and elms, they pro- 
tected themselves. These and the white ash needed longer cultivation on 
account of later leafing. 

The varieties planted were the Scotch, black Austrian, and white i^ines, 
Norway and white spruces, American and Siberian arbor vitse, hemlock, 
and European and American silver fir ; and of deciduous trees, the black 
walnut, silver-leaf, sugar, and red maples, box-elder, English red, and white 
American elms, chestnut, horse-chestnut, European mountain ash, white ash, 
redbud (of Southern Illinois), European and American larch, and cypress. 

.European Larch . — This is now twenty-eight to thirty- two feet high.with diametera 
varying according to density, the most being fourteen inches at one foot from the 
ground. Nearly every tree grevtr ; average annual growth tlie first nine years, 2% 
feet. On the nineteenth of October, 1869, a severe frost, corning before the tops 
had hardened, checked them, and the gain was not over two inches a year, or a foot 
in six seasons, till 1876, when they grew eighteen inches. No bird or insect 
has attacked them. 

Black Walnuts grew so long as cultivated, but when exposed, from the dying out 
of a row of soft maples, and by the encroachment of sod, they became stunted 
in growth, except a few that grew in a depression, equally dry with the rest, but of 
richer soil, where the trees were now twenty to thirty feet high and twelve to six- 
teen inches in diameter. A block of black walnuts, three by sixteen rods, in rows 
four feet apart and two feet between the rows, was cultivated eight years and then 
left. Some of these, in a basin of vegetable mold, are now four to six inches in 
thickness and twenty to twenty-five feet high. The rest are two to four inches in 
diameter and fifteen to twenty feet high, the average amount of wood growth being 
one-fifth of those in the basin. A neighbor had planted walnuts, in 1844, that had 
been transplanted twice. They were twenty feet apart; had been in cultivated 
ground twenty-five years. They are now seventeen inches thick at two feet from 
the ground, and one that had been cultivated till now on one side was twenty- 
three inches, with a height of forty feet. These trees have a spreading top, the 
branches beginning at seven to eight feet up, and bear fruit abundantly. 

These facts lead to the conclusion that black walnut will succeed on dry, rich 
soil, if cultivation is continued till the trees are able to shade out the grass, and 
that when planted alone, and without shading nurses, they will die. Mr. S. prefers 
the European larch as a nurse. The sugar maple is found to agree well, and might 
be used for this purpose. These other trees secure a clean, upright stem to the 
walnut, an important object with this timber. It must have deep, rich soil. 

Silver-leaf Maple. — This promised well everywhere ten or twelve years, and some 
trees had a diameter of eighteen inches at the collar in fifteen years. They are liable 

♦Communicated to the Horticultural Society of Northern Illinois, and published with the "Transac. 
of 111. Hort. Soc, 1876, p. 284. 

7 



L 



98 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



to break from "Winds in summer and from ice in winter, and many show signs of 
early maturity and decay. They are particularly liable to injury from grass. It 
grows best in wet soils. 

White Ash. — Trees set in 1856, one inch in thickness and seven feet high, two 
rods apart, are now thirty feet high, eight to fourteen inches thiclc, and the spread 
of the limbs twenty to twentj'-flve feet. They have a strong tendency to sprout 
from the stump of the parent tree. Trees from seed, planted in 1858, and set in 
forest rows, with European larch and black walnut, are straight and smooth twen- 
ty-five to thirty feet high and three to four inches in diameter. 

Sugar Maples, planted twenty feet apart, seven feet high, in 1856, are now twen- 
ty-five feet high and six to eight inches thick, spreading from twelve to seventeen 
feet. , 

Trees from seed planted in 1858, have a height of twenty feet and thickness of 
three to six inches. It grows very slow in prairie soil for fifteen to twenty years, 
after which it makes satisfactory growth. Trees an inch in diameter when set, 
thirty-three years ago, are now over three feet in circumference at a foot from the 
ground, thirty feet high, and twenty-five feet spread. A wild cherry tree, set in 
the same ground, twenty-six years from seed, is now five feet round. 

Box Elder grows rapidly, gaining a diameter of six inches in seven years from 
planting, and forms a fine head, sixteen feet across. It is not liable to break from 
winds and ice, like the soft maple. 

Butternut grows well under cultivation, being five to seven inches through, and 
a well proportioned head. It bears nuts. 

Redbud, good only for ornamental planting; slow grower. 

American Larch grows nearly as well as the European, but with less regular form; 
branches,- wild and straggling; height twenty-five feet, diameter four to six inches. 

Bed Elm grows rapidly, some trees being six to eight or ten inches thick; but at 
this age many have an unhealthy appearance. It is not worthy of cultivation on- 
dry land. 

White Elm. — In regard to growth, variety of soil needed, and habit of late leilf- 
ing, it resembles the walnut, requiring the same treatment, and leading to the same 
results. Valueless on common prairie without cultivation until able to protect it- 
self. There is this difference between these two trees, however, that while the 
walnut requires a deep, rich, dry soil, the white elm will flourish in a wet soil, less 
deep and rich, with annual cultivation for twenty years. These two trees make 
about tbe same growth on common dry prairies as they do in the "sinks," with a 
cultivation of four or five years. 

English Elm makes a more vigorous growth and a more beautiful foliage than 
either of the xlmerican varieties, and will do well with less cultivation. 

Chestnut. — A total failure on prairie soil. Only one tree remained on the ground, 
and this is the only one known in the county. It stands twenty feet high, six 
inches in diameter, and is kept in slightly growing condition from the forest pro- 
tection around it. It grows satisfactorily on the ligliter soil of the Mississippi 
bluffs. 

Lombardy Poplar grows rapidly and beautiful a few years, but is unhealthy and 
valueless in ten or fifteen years, especially so on rich soils. Trees of ten years' 
growth are eight to ten inches thick, and twenty-five to thirty feet high. 

Horse Chestnut. — Hardy, but an exceedingly slow grower on prairie, yet grows 
well on gravelly or sandy soil. 

EVERGREENS. 

White Pines are thirty to forty feet high in forests six to eight feet apart, with a 
diameter of ten to fourteen inches. When close they are equal height but slender, 
and denuded cf side branches. The white pines of this plantation are from trees 
from seedlings gathered from American forests in 1866, planted twelve feet apart. 
They were six to ten feet high in 1876. They are filled with Scotch pine for nurses, 
with trees grown from seed gathered from tiees imported and planted in 1858.. 
They were cultivated till able to protect themselves. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 99 

Scotch Pine, in close plantations, four to six feet apart, have a height of twenty to 
twenty-five feet, and a diameter of six to seven inches. When standing separate, 
they have twice this diameter, and form a beautiful tree, valuable as a wind-break, 
and growing surely and rapidly on nearly every variety of soil. They are very 
hardy. 

Black Austrian Pine grows equally well with the Scotch, and mainly valuable for 
ornament and wind-breaks. 

Norway Spruce, when planted alone, spreads nearly as wide as it grows in height, 
forming a beautiful pyramid. The greatest diameter of the trunk of these trees ^s 
fifteen inches, from trees planted in 1857 one foot in height. 

American White Spruce. — This is a beautiful tree, equally,, if not excelling the 
Norway, and with the same habits. 

American Arbor-vitae. (white cedar). — This forms a beautiful tree when 
young, and standing alone, and it may be successfully sheared to any desirable form. 
It grows slowly, and when planted closely in rows, six feet apart, and only one foot 
in the row, has a diameter of two to four "inches, and sixteen feet in height. 

Siberian Arbor-vitae, is equally hardy with the American, and grows more com- 
pact and beautiful. 

Hemlock, when planted on prairie soil, makes a slow and dwarfish growth, till 
twelve or fifteen years old. It is better on hard soil. 

American Silver Fir (Balsam). — A rapid, beautiful grower, its main value being 
as an ornamental tree; is less hardy in the extremes of cold following exceedingly 
severe droughts, as in lS64-'65; as in case of the great droughts which then visited 
this western countr3'^, when a great many of the finest of the balsam trees, many of 
them forty feet in height, died. 

European Silver Fir. — This is too tender for this climate, and has only flourished 
in protected situations. It has a height of thirty feet, and a diameter of six to 
seven inches, and should be used only as an ornamental tree. Yet this tree shows 
early old age, and is less beautiful in twenty or thirty years. 

EXPERIENCE OE TREE CULTURE, IN ILLINOIS. 

Mr. Samuel Edwards, of Mendota, 111., reporting fi'om a committee of the 
State Horticultural Society, in 1876,* speaks of the condition and prospects 
of tree planting, and of the success and failure th at has attended the experi- 
ments hitherto tried : 

For several years the locust used to be the timber tree, and was quite extensively 
planted; and when the beautiful groves; on which so many had placed their depen- 
dence for future fencing, were destroyed by the borer, a general depression came 
over the minds of tree-planters. For a time their energies fur work in this direc- 
tion were paralyzed, and it is only recently, from observation of the growth and 
value of a few other varieties of trees as yet successfully cultivated liere, confidence 
in timber-growing is being restored. Many have made smiill beginnings, a few are 
planting extensively of black walnut, European larch, ash, of diit'ereut varieties, 
white and iScotch pines, white willow, silver maple, and ash-leaved maple, all of 
which give satisfaction, except the silver maple, which is in some cases troubled 
with a borer, and limbs are broken in severe storms 

Some have advocated extensive planting of the chestnut, and for over twenty 
years they were thrifty on a prairie mound, clay soil, with good natural under- 
drainage in my grounds. A severe winter succeeding a drought fatally injured one 
of the two trees set in 1S51, and on my new grounds, at Mendota, only some four 
feet to a stiff clay, they are very unsatisfactory; many trees four to six feet high, 
were killed in the winter of lS74-'75. The tulip tree, for twenty-five years from 
first planting, grew finely. Quite a number on the grounds of Arthur Bryant and 
Tracy Pvceve, at Princeton, and at "The Evergreens,'' Lamoille, tailed under the 
same circumstances as the chestnut. The English walnuts, grown at La Porte, 
Ind., were brought to one of the meetings of this society a few years since, by VV. 

♦Transactions of Illinois Horticultural Society, 1876, p. 115. 



lOO FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

H. Ragan, with the report that it proved hardy and had home fruit there several 
years. I tried a second hundred from an eastern nursery, and they have all winter 
killed. Doubtless, all of these varieties planted on timber soil, in the southern and 
central parts of the State, will succeed. It is evident, from past experience, that it 
will require several years to test varieties of trees before planting extensively on the 
prairies of our section of country. 

A good beginning is being made in planting trees along the public highways, for 
which white elm, ash and silver maple are generally used. It is to be regretted 
that some continue to plant the Lombardy poplar, which is very short-lived, and 
timber of so little value. Centennial trees were very generally set by our people 
who plant at all. 

Several cemeteries, a number of farms in this vicinity, and the Blackstone Public 
School grounds, in Mendota, have been improved the present year, by planting ex- 
tensive evergreen screens. 

How anyone can reside on our bleak prairies during the passage of one of our polar 
waves, like that of December 9, with the mercury at — 23^, and not decide to pro- 
vide timber-shelter for his family and animals, is past my comprehension. Yet, 
how many men, with good sense in every other respect, and with ample means, con- 
tinue to live without this merciful provision ! It really does seem certain that, at 
no distant day, a general awakening, to this work of necessity must break out all 
over the prairies of the northwest. 

Of ornamental deciduous trees, as yet planted only to a limited extent, I would 
place first on the list our lovely sugar maple. If there is a finer avenue of decidu- 
ous trees in our State than the one of sugar maple, planted by Arthur Bryant, some 
forty years since, it has not been my good fortune to see it. Norway maple is one 
of the most valuable, on account of retaining its foliage late ; cut-leaved weeping 
birch, verv fine; weeping mountain ash; horse chestnut, slow grower, desirable; 
Japan ginko, unique; American linden, if foreign, would be called for; magnolia 
acuminata, unsurpassed. The following do not endure severe winters: European 
ash, and several weeping varieties of it ; European weeping linden; weeping thorn, 
several varieties; rosemary- leafed weeping willow. Kilmarnock weeping willow, 
though hardier than the foregoing, is frequently injured enough to render it un- 
desirable. 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF WOODS FOR FUEL. 

EXPERIMENTS BY MARCUS BULL. 

A paper read before the American Philosophical Society, April 7, 1826, 
by Marcus Bull, of Philadelphia,* gives the results of careful experiments 
upon qualities and relative values of American woods, that have been 
regarded as trustworthy and valuable. In conducting these experiments, 
Mr. Bull constructed a room within a room,f so that the walls of the inner 
one could be kept uniform in temperature, and combustion was made in a 
stove with an abundance of pipe. The time and effects were carefully noted, 
and all circiunstances affecting draught of air, size, and condition of fuel, &c., 
were made as uniform as possible. 

♦"Experiments to determine the Comparative Value of the principal Varieties of Fuel used in the 
United States, and also in Europe, and on the Ordinary Apparatus used in their combustion." By 
Marcus Bull, Philadelphia, 1S27, 8 vo.,p. 103, 

fThe outer room was 11x14 feet and about 14 feet high ; the inner one was cubic, 8 feet on a side, 
and containing 512 cubic feet. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



lOI 



Common and Botanical Names-t 



White ash — Fraxinns americana 

Apple tree— Pyrus malus 

White beech — Fagus sylvestris 

Black birch — Betula lenta 

White birch— Betula populifolia 

Butter-nut- Juglans cathartica 

Red cedar — Juniperus virginiana 

American chestnut — Castanea vesca 

Wild cheri'y — Cerasus virginiana 

Dogwood — Cornus iiorida 

White elm — Ulmus americana 

Sour gum — Nyssa sylvatica 

Sweet gum— Liquidambar styraciflua 

Shell-bark hickory — Juglans squamosa 

Pig-nut hickory— Juglans porcina 

Red-heart hickory — Juglans laciniata 

Witch-hazel — Hamamelis virginica 

American holly — Ilexopaca 

American hornbeam — Carpinus americana 

Mountain laurel — Kalmia latifolia 

Hard maple — Acer saccharinum 

Soft maple — Acer rubrum 

Large magnolia — Magnolia granJiflora 

Chestnut white oak— Quercus prinus palustris. 

White oak — Quercns alba 

Shell-bark white oak— Quercus obtusiloba 

Barren scrub oak— Quercus catesbsei 

Pin oak — Quercus palustris 

Scrub black oak — Quercus banisteri 

Red oak — Quercus rubra 

Barren oak — Quercus ferruginea 

Rock chestnut oak — Quercus prinus monticala. 

Yellow oak — Quercus prinus acuminata 

Spanish oak — Quercus falcata 

Persimmon — Diospyrcs virginiana 

Yellow pine (soft)— Pinus mitis 

Jersey pine — Pinus inops 

Pitch pine— Pinus rigida 

White pine — Pinus sirobus 

Yellow poplar — Lyriodendron tulipifera 

Lombardy poplar—Populus dilatata 

Sassafras — Laurus sassafras 

Wild service — Aronia arborea 

Sycamore — Acer pseudo-plantanus 

Black Walnut — Juglans nigra 

Swamp Whortleberry— Vaccinium corymbosum 



.772 
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663 
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EXPERIMENTS IN TREE PLANTING BY MR. JOSEPH S. FAY, 
AT WOOD'S HOLL, BARNSTABLE COUNTY, MASS. 

At the close of the season of 1875, the plantation of Mr. Pay included 
something over 125 acres, of which about 100 were sown broadcast, chiefly 
in the spring, and about 25 were set with imported trees. The seed sown 
were chiefly those of the native pitch-pine, with some white pine, the Aus- 
trian, Scotch and Corsican pine, the Norway spruce, and the European larch. 
The imported trees number about 35,000, consisting of the Austrian, Scotch 



JThese names are generally according to Michaux, and in some cases are different from those noT 
g enerally a dopted. 



102 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

and Corsican pines, Norway spruce, Norway maple, English sycamore {Acer 
pseudo-platanus), English oak, alder, Scotch birch and larch, wych elm and 
Huntington and red German willows. There were also set several thousand 
native pines from the eastern part of Falmouth. 

This plantation is betw eeu Buzzard's Bay on the west and north and Mar- 
tha's Vineyard Sound on the east and south, the highest elevation being 
about 150 feet above the sea. The surface is uneven and made up of abrupt 
hills and deep hollows, sprinkled over with bowlders of granite, and the soil 
a drift formation of clay and gravel with a' yellow or sandy loam. It was, 
before seeding, an old j^asture ground, with no tree except an oak that springs 
out of the huckleberry bushes here and there, but hardly rising above them 
on account of the wind, and from being kept down by browsing. The an- 
nual rainfall in this section is about 45 inches, and the prevailing winds in 
summer are southerly, and in winter northerly. 

The native jjines of Mr. Fay's plantation were set in 1853-1856, and im- 
ported trees were set in 1852, 1853, 1855, 1871, and 1852. Native pine 
seeds were sown in 1858, 1861, 1864, and 1868. The foreign seeds were 
sown in 1861, 1862, 1868. The results are stated as follows :* 

The Scotch pine from the seed have proved on the whole, including prompt ger- 
mination, the best grower and very Lardy ; but the weevil affects the symmetry of 
many trees. The Norway Spruce and English oak have done well, and the white 
pine; but all three suffer when much exposed, as on the outside of a plantation, 
to the strong salt winds. The Austrian pine does well, but is slow and irregular in 
germinating, and makes a later start from the seed. The larch has not come well 
from the seed ; from the nursery, or as imported, it does remarkably well ; so with 
the Scotch birch and alder. The Scotch pine does finely from the seed or the 
nursery, and from the latter the English sycamore does well. All have done better 
than the native pitch pine. 

One kind of pine, though not fully tested by me, promises better than the rest, 
namely, the CoTsican {Pinus kiricio). In my first importation I ordered five hun- 
dred, but when transplanted in my absence, they were mixed with the Austrian, 
and I lost sight of them for ten j^ears. I was then so struck with their great vigor, 
beauty and fine promise, that in 1868 1 imported some seed and commenced sowing 
them, mixed with other kinds, upon vacant lands, and have since kept it up. Some 
of those that came up are very strong and healthy, while others are affected by 
some insect or a kind of blight. They are very hardy and beautiful when not so 
affected. I think that some of the nurser3'men have imported and sell them under 
the name of Austrian. Of those sown in 1868 some are (in 1875) over eight feet 
high, of which nearly or quite five feet grew in the last three years. At an early 
da}^ I tried some seed of the French maritime pine (Pinus ^nnaster maratima) which 
were so successfully planted on the west ooast of France under the firs Napoleon ; 
but after germinating and growing thriftily to the height of six feet, they were 
winterkilled. This was the experience on Nantucket and Martha's Vinej-ard Is- 
lands, where they were tried extensively. 

Some of the Scotch and Austrian pines, Norway spruces, and Scotch larches 
which I obtained from my brother, Mr. Richard S. Fay, of Lynn, in 1853, probably 
imported bj'' him in 1850, arc about 40 feet high, and from 10 to 14 inches in diam- 
eter one foot from the ground. Some native white pines set out about the same time 
have done as well. Of those imported in 1853, many are about 35 feet high, and 8 
to 12 inches in diameter one foot from the grouad. Of the Scotch pines, from seed 
sown in 1861, some favorably situated — that is, not crowded, and in fair soil and 
shelter — are 30 feet high and' 10 inches through the butt a foot from the ground. 
Most of them which were not too thicklj' sown in 1862 and 1863, are upwards of 20 feet 
high and 6 inches in diameter one foot from the ground. 

All the pines have done M^ell from the seed, on the whole, except the native pitch 

pines, which became sickly, and which, after a good growth to a certain point, I 

^am cutting out for fuel, as not worth keeping. Some, however, that I transplanted 

in 1853, 1854 and 1855, are Yery strong and healtliy, being at least 30 feet high and 

10 to 12 inclies in diameter. I am told that the seedling native trees, of which 

♦"Massachusetts Ploughman," February 26, 1876, in answer to enquiries by Prof. C. S. Sargent. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. IO3 

many acres have been pLmted ia Naatucket, are proving worthless, fftid are being 
cut down. 

My first importations of trees were in 1871 and 1872, and consisted of English 
alder, Scotch birch, Scotch larch, English sycamore, Norway spruce, and Austrian, 
Scotch, and Corsican pines The alder I 'have found to be a very rapid grower, 
very hardy and ornamental, well adapted for a screen or a shelter to other trees. 
Some which were set out at 1>< to 2 feet high in 1871, are now 8 and 10 feet high. 
The birches have done well, and so with the pines ; the sycamore and Norway 
spruce not as well, needing, perhaps, two years on the nursery or a better soil. 
The Scotch larches were heated on the voyage, and the summer following being 
very dr^^, many died. Those that survived have recovered, and being now finely 
started, are making a vigorous growth. 

My first purchases of foreign trees were planted about my house, in the openings 
of a thirty acre lot of oak and beech woods near by, and on the bare, gravelly hills 
overlooking the Sound, and raked by strong winds. The trees I imported in 1853, 
after two years in the nursery, I planted out, some in clumps of a quarter and half 
an acre each, on an old pasture which I did not "seed down," and which had not a 
tree upon it. I suri'ounded them with fences of wire drawn through cedar posts to 
keep off the cattle, who find in them a grateful shade, now the trees are too large 
to be injured by them. Others I placed along the walls of my cultivated field, and 
soriae on the margin of my old deciduous woods, so as to afford a shelter and a va- 
riety of foliage. My importations of 1871 and 1872 were planted as soon as received, 
on an old and poor pasture land, where I intended they should remain. My meth- 
od was to run, with oxen, deep single furrows 7 feet apart, anc^ then set the trees 
in them 7 feet from each other. The land is rough and of the average soil of a 
worn out pasture. These have done well, except those Lirches which died, as be- 
fore staled, in consequence of being heated on the voj^age, taking. into the account 
the saving of labor and the use of more valuable land, by not putting them into a 
nursery, though if placed there at the first start they may have seemed to do better. 

The trees were introduced as a matter of taste, and as an experiment, without 
the calculation of any immediate advantage. Still I think if it had been near a 
market, or one had been sought, there would have been a profit in the sale of the 
surplus young trees, and now already in the sales of wood, if only the thinnings. 
The land has been, no doubt, improved by the deposit of thousands of loads of 
leaves upon it, and by the shade afiiorded it, while it has been lightened and lifted 
by the permeation of the roots of the trees. Much of the labor has been done at 
intervals of farm work, and chiefly without professional supervision. 

When I bought my place in the fall of 18-50, except a few stinted red cedai-s on 
Parker's Point, and some white cedars in the swamps, there was not an evergreen 
tree within three miles of my house, and hardly any tree of any kind in sight of it. 
The woods (oak, beech and hickory), were in the dells and valleys behind the hills 
fronting the sea, and it was maintained that trees would not grow, and could not 
be made to do so, in the face of the salt-laden Avinds from the south and southwest. 
The exposure was certainly great and the soil poor, and trees planted singly or 
sparsely, perhaps, could not have resisted it, but close planting made a shelter, and 
those not specially from an inland habitat (like the while maple) have done well, 
and seem to the manor born. 

In answer to the question, "If you were to do the work over again, 
could you improve on the methods employed by you ?" Mr. Fay replied : 

I think I should recommend, where the ground was not too stony and rough, in- 
stead of sowing seed broadcast, to run parallel furrows, not deep, running east and 
west (so the mid-day' sun will not strike across them) seven feet apart, and drop the, 
seeds in them, merely pressing them into the ground, and not covering them more 
than this, if at all. This, in the first place, especially on the hill side, where the 
furrows should be run at right angles with the slope, and not vertically, will prevent 
the seed from washing down to the low places ; in the second place, the seed will 
be likely to come up more at the same time, and would be more uniformly distrib- 
uted than can be done broadcast, unless sowed when there is snow upon the ground, 
and also less seed would be required and less would be wasted ; in the third place, 
the side of the furrow would tend to shade the young germ, which, on the open 
sward, in a dry time, is apt to be withered and destroyed by the heat. In my plant- 
ings, where the trees have come up too thickly, I have transplanted them to spots 
where the seed has failed or was not sown; but this mikes extra labor. If sowed in 
furrows, the seed might be dropped at intervals of four or five feet, and even then, 



104 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

in a few years, if all were to come up they would require thinning. In this case 
the surplus could be sold or planted elsewhere. They would make good nursery 
plants. 

As to imported trees, when it is considered that the average cost, landed at the 
farm, of English grown plants one or two feet high, is less thsm one cent each, it 
would be a saving of time to procure them and set them out in the place where 
they are to grow. There is a little uncertainty in their condition, but, as a rule, 
they come in good order. This requires two plantings. My last I placed, as I have 
stated, in the field where they were to grow, in parallel furrows. I think it would 
be better to plow cross furrows the same distance apart, or say 10 feet each way, and 
plant the trees at the intersection. Unless the land is very much exposed to the 
wind, 10 feet is near enough, as even then, in about seven years, a man could hardly 
walk between the rows. If there are bleak hills to be planted, then the trees should 
be nearer together, say 6 or 7 feet, so as to shelter each other more ; but, when they 
get up and are doing well, they ought to be thinned. But for this need of shelter 
in exposed places, they would do better in view of a twenty-five years' growth to 
be 20 feet apart each way. Up to a certain point they help each other by proximity, 
but it takes great courage to cut down strong and thrifty trees to make room. Yet, 
on a farm the thinnings may be useful, and when near large towns would be sale- 
able for cheap rustic fences and inclosures, and certainly for kindling stuff. It is 
also to be considered that if planted too far apart, the growth would be more lat- 
eral than vertical in proportion, and the trees would be more spreading, and tend 
less to taper form and slenderness. 

In planting out at once on rough land instead of first in a nursery, though the 
tree may take a year or two to get a start, for the roots to find their way into the 
closer soil of an old field, there is a great saving of labor and not much loss of time, 
as each transplanting checks a tree in its growth. One thousand trees will cover an 
acre well, if planted 6 or 7 feet apart, and five hundred if 9 or 10 feet from each 
other ; and after the furrows are made, twO' active, handy men could plant one to 
two acres a day. Care should be taken not to plant too near other older trees, lest 
they overshadow and kill out the new planting, or the overhanging limbs chafe and 
keep down the leading shoots. I have wasted a great many trees by planting them 
in the old woods where the spaces seemed large and open, by their being overgrown 
and shaded out. If I were again to set out young trees among the old woods, I 
should cut the latter all down clean, and let them start again from the stumps with 
the new planting. If this is not done, and it is desirable to keep the old trees, they 
must then be carefully watched and trimmed and lopped, as the young ones grow up 
under and about them. And I have lost many trees by their being planted or sow- 
ed too near each other. When trees are two or three feet high, it seems quite safe 
to plant them live feet apart, but soon they are too close, and the most vigorous 
crowd out and destroy the weakest. In my seeded plantations in many spots, they 
have come up at the rate of 40,000 trees to the acre ; hence my advice to mark oil 
the fields in furrows and sow in them rather than broadcast. It would be a great saving 
every way, except in a little labor at the start. Nor in sowing should I now mix 
the seeds of different pines, as I have done, but sow each kind by itself distinctly. 
For a Scotch, for instance, comes up promptly, it is likelj^to get the start of the 
Austrian, the seed of which sometimes lies dormant two or three years, and so 
overshadows and crowds it out. If the latter were sowed by itself, though it would 
be slower in germinating, all would be likely to start together, and when fairly 
rooted make up for lost time. It would not be amiss to plant here and there some 
desirable kinds of acorns or nuts, for while the pines would grow faster and keep 
them down, if for any reason the pines were cut off', the oaks and hickory would 
come forward very rapidly when open to the sun. A few chestnuts that I have 
planted under the lee of other trees have made an extraordinarj'- growth, and in the 
interior, their habitat, they must be a very profitable tree to plant. 

You will bear in mind that I have given you my experience as a planter of trees, 
much as an incident of farming and not as a business. Were it taken upas a thing 
of itself, then it might be advisable to start seed beds and raise one's own trees, and 
nurse ihem, instead of importing them. I have endeavored to raise a forest about 
me at the least possible cost of labor, and not looking much to the hurrying of the 
result, or to count up an early profit. The laud was denuded and exhausted, and 
mo»s grown, and I took this method to cover it with verdure and restore it, believ- 
ing that the wood would compensate me or my heirs sooner or later. * * * In 
closing my discursive remarks, I would say that, considering the position of niy 
place, exposed on the northwest to the violent winds of winter sweeping across 
Buzzard's Bay, and in summer t» the strong breezes from the southwest, bringing 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 105 

salt spray from Vineyard Souad, the vigorous growth and promising appearance of 
my forest plantations is very encouraging to those more favorably placed. Not only 
may the destruction of our forests be partially remedied at a cheap cost, but the 
waste and sterility of our land by long cultivating and pasturing, be removed and 
replaced with fertility by the simple process of nature. It is much, also, to restore 
shade in summer and shelter in winter by the renewal of our forests. 

A committee of the Northeru Illinois Horticultural Society, at a session 
held in December, 1867, recommended the following list of evergreens as 
suitable for cultivation in that region : 

For timber belts : White pine, Norway pine and spruce, Scotch pine, Austrian 
pine, and American arbor vitse. 

For liigli screens : Norway spruce and American arbor vitse. 

For screens of moderate height : Siberian arbor vitae, Norway spruce, American 
arbor vitSBj hemlock and red cedar. 

Ornamental specimen trees : All the foregoing, and the white, black, and red spruce, 
picea pichta, Cimbrian pine, Finns mitis, Irish and Swedish junipers. 

Shrubs : American yew, tamarix-leafed and Waukegan trailing juniper, savin, 
Pinus magnus, Pinus pumilis, and Andromeda fioribundi. 

An experimental station, begun at the Illinois Industrial University, 
reported, February 29, 1872, seven acres as planted with 36,749 trees, at 
a cost of $433.48 for trees, $106.72 for planting, and $42.83 for cultiva- 
tion; total, $583.03. The kinds planted were the white and green ash, 
catalpa, chestnut, white elm, European larch, white maple, Osage orange, 
Austrian and Scotch pines, white walnut and white willow. The land 
planted with each kind was generally a quarter of an acre, but more 
with white ash and larch. Distance apart 2 by 4 inches, except the pines, 
which were 4 by 4. The catalpas and white elms were all living, and 
but 2 per cent, of the green ash, white maple, Osage orange and white 
willow died. But 1 per cent, of white walnuts, and 5 per cent, of white 
ash were lost. Half the chestnut and three-fourths of the larch per- 
ished, and but 2 per cent, of the pines lived. The white grub (the larva 
of the May beetle) did great injury, especially to the larch and white 
ash, girdling the roots below the surface. The loss of the pines was 
attributed to dry weather. 

In 1872, 10,083 trees were planted ; the larches and pines from R. 
Douglas & Sons, Waukegan, 111., and the others grown on the premises, 
at Campaign. The per centage living from both years' planting, at the 
end of 1872, were as follows : Catalpa and white elm, 196; white wal- 
nut, 99 ; green ash, white maple, white willow, Osage orange, and Nor- 
way spruce, 98; white ash, 93 ; European larch, Austrian pine, and 
white pine, 30; Scotch pine, 20; chestnut, 4, The white grub had 
again done much injury, especially to the larch. It was found to be less 
affected on high land. The chestnuts mostly winter killed. The Osage 
orange was promising to become one of the most valuable trees for that 
latitude, and both this and the catalpa, when cut close to the ground in 
orde to get a good, straight growth, had succeeded well. 

A prominent cause of failure in evergreen planting, is the exposure of 
the roots to the sun and air. "We have seen hay-racks loaded with 
evergreens going from the nursery to the packing-house, that were dead 
before shipping, proving worse than a total loss of money to the pur- 
chasers." The pear grafted on quince stock has also led to great disap- 
pointment. 

In making plantations in exposed situations, it will be found advanta- 
geous to have them of as large an area as possible, for trees will, in many 



I06 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

cases, thrive in large masses which would actually starve in small clumps 
or belts. The soil should he well trenched or drained, and great care 
should he taken in selecting the hardy varieties that are suited to the 
soil in which they are planted. The plants should be small when trans- 
planted, and those that are known to stand severe winds should form the 
margin, while the more valuable kinds are planted in the interior. In 
many cases it will be found judicious to plant thickly with the view of 
shelter, and thin early, so as to bring up the trees in a healthy and hardy 
state, taking girth with their height. 

In respect to the success that may, under good management, be expect- 
ed to result from tree planting in eastern Nebraska, the following extract 
from an address delivered before the State Board of Agriculture, by the 
Hon. J. Sterling Morton, January 26, 1876, lays down his rules and men- 
tions his results as follows : 

First, the original sod should be broken and turned over in thin, evenly-laid 
strips. When completed, a good breaking will appear like a vast floor of well laid 
two inch plank painted with lampblack. Then plant and cultivate, not to see how 
much you can manage, but lioio well. Then come trees : walauts, cottonwoocls, wil- 
lows, mulberries and elms will make the home seem civilized. Tree planting is an 
avocation which barbarians never follow. Indians never adorn their wigwams with 
orchards, nor indulge in floriculture. There is no record of an aboriginal horti- 
culturist in any book I have read or heard of anywhere. It may seem a long time 
to raise a saw log from the walnut which lies in the palm of your hand, bat the 
rain and frost of winter and the sunshine of summer, together with the fertile and 
forcing soil of Nebraska, crowd a walnut into the dimensions of a respectable saw 
log in less than twenty-five years. Upon a farm where I have lived, io Otoe county, 
for more than twenty years, one may see black walnut trees, which will make good 
railroad ties, and some ■which will do to saw up, which I planted with my own hands. 
* * * And, again, there maj' be found Cottonwood saw logs growing there 
which are more than six feet in girth, and when I first saw them they were only 
wandering germs, floating in the air like down from a bird's breast. But they are adult 
saw logs in 187(3. These remarks, somewhat egotistical though they may be, are made 
for the purpose merely of impressing you, and through j^ou the farming people, 
with the. tree possibilities of this State, and I only preach in this regard what I 
have faithfull}' put in practice, and the witnesses of the truth of my theories stand 
majestically verifying me all over the farm whence this is written to you, in the 
form of beautiful, thrift}^ and valuable fruit and forest trees. Come down and see 
them in the hot summer days, while you rest in their shade, even their foliage will 
tell you in whispering with the wind, how pleasant and profitable a thing it is to 
plant the prairie with trees. 

MINNESOTA STATE FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 

This, the first, and hitherto the only State forestry association within 
the United States, was formed at St. Paul, January 12, 1876, in pursuance 
of a call signed by many leading citizens of the State, who realized the 
importance of taking efiectual measures for protecting the existing tim- 
ber resources of the State, and of making provision against future wants. 
At the first meeting, held January 11, a committee consisting of Gen. 
George L. Becker, ex-Gov. William R. Marshall, Leonard B. Hodges, Prof. 
Charles Y. Lacy, Wyman Elliott, L. M. Ford, and Prof. William W. Fol- 
well, was appointed to draft a constitution, which was adopted the next 
day at an adjourned session, as follows : 

CONSTITUTION OF THE MINNESOTA STATE FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 

Article I. This Society shall be known as the Minnesota State Forestry Asso- 
ciation. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 10/ 

Art. II. The object of this association shall be the encouragement and promo- 
tion of forest culture bj'^ the collection and diffusion of practical information on that 
subject, and b}'' the discussion of all questions pertaining thereto; to secure the 
genera] observance of Arbor Day throughout tlie State, and to promote the ultimate 
redemption of the treeless regions of Minnesota. 

Art. III. The oflBcers of this association shall consist of a president, one vice- 
president for each Congressional district, a treasurer, and an executive committee 
consisting of the president, secretary, and five elective members. 

Art. IV. 'Ihe president shall preside over all meetings of the Society, and de- 
liver an annual address on the subject of forest culture in Minnesota. 

Art. v. In the absence of the president, his duties shall devolve upon the vice- 
presidents in their regular order. 

Art. VI. The secretary shall record all transactions of the Society; shall collate, 
edit, and prepare all work for the press; shall receive and answer all communica- 
tions addressed to the Society; shall establish and maintain correspondence with 
similar associations, and secure by exclfenge their tran,sactions, as far as possible. 
He shall give full and general notice of all meetings of this Society, through the 
public press of the State. He shall report and sul)mit to the annual meeting of the 
Society all matters that have come into his possession, which, with its approval, 
shall become a part of the transactions of the Society. He shall receive and pay 
over all moneys received from members, or otherwise, to the treasurer, from whom 
he shall take a receipt therefor. 

Art. VII. The treasurer shall collect and be held responsible for all funds of 
the Society, and shall disburse the same only on the order of the executive com- 
mittee. 

Art. VIII. The officers of this Society shall be elected annually by ballot, and 
shall hold their offices until their successors shall be elected. 

Art. IX. Every member shall be entitled to copies of the transactions of the 
Society, as often as the same shall be published, and it shall be the duty of the sec- 
retary to forward the same to each member, by mail, express or otherwise, immedi- 
ately after publication. 

Art. X. The executive committee may call a meeting of the Society at any tinie 
and place they may deem advisable by a notice of at least ten days in the 'public 
press. 

Art. XL The Society shall hold annual sessions on the second Tuesday in Jan- 
uary of each year, at such place as the executive committee shall determine. 

Art. XII. Any person may become a member of this Society by the payment of 
one dollar to the secretary. 

Art. XIII. It shall be the duty of the executive committee to prepare a pro- 
grajnme of exercises for each annual meeting, assigning to each division of arbori- 
culture an essay or paper to be furnished by some member specially qualified for 
this service. 

Art. XIV. The< president and secretary shall have power to appoint delegates to 
meetings of kindred associations. 

Art. XV. This constitution m-ay be amended by a vote of two-thirds of the mem- 
bers present at an}^ annual meeljing. 

Under this organization, the officers first elected were E. F. Drake, of 
St. Paul, President ; A. A. Soule, of Cottonwood county (first district), 
Ignatius Donnelly, of Dakota county (second district), and John H. Ste- 
vens, of Hennepin county (third district). Vice Presidents ; Leonard B. 
Hodges, of St, Paul, Secretary; Pennock Pusey, of St. Paul, Treasurer ; 
and Prof. C. Y. Lacy, of the State University, G. W. Fuller, of Litchfield, 
C. F. Dunbar, of Faribault county, John P. Schoenbeck, of Nicollet 
county, J. W. Blake, of Lyon county, with the ex-officio officers above 
named, as Executive Committee. 

The State Legislature, by an act passed March 2, 1876, appropriated 
$2,500 to promote the objects of the association, and in order to perfect 
the organization and remove all doubts as to legality, it was deemed 



I08 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

proper to reorganize under the general laws of the State, which was done 
in due form on the 23d day of Novembsr, 1876. 

The means provided by State grant, and dues from members, enabled 
the society to offer a series of premiums, which, although not large in 
amount, were sufficiently numerous to stimulate competition, and the ob- 
jects and plan of the society were widely published in time for the plant- 
ing season of 1876. The first Tuesday of May was fixed upon as Arbor 
Day, and every citizen owning land was invited to devote this day espe- 
cially to tree planting. 

Dr. Hough says : Mr. L. B. Hodges, of St. Paul, the Secretary of the 
Association, in a letter dated November 29, 1877, gives the latest returns 
of operations for that year. 

The spring planting reported by the several township assessors amount- 
ed to 5,268,939 trees, of which 502,568 were planted on Arbor Day. The 
returns of fall planting are coming in by ^very mail, and will come in till 
January. The total amount for the year 1877 cannot fall short of 
7,000,000, and will probably reach 10,000,000 forest trees planted in 
Minnesota during the entire planting season. 

The returns of assessors are regarded by Mr. Hodges as very incom- 
plete, as it is an e3:tra service for which no pay is allowed, and many ap- 
pear to take no pains to get full returns. As to the proportion of these 
ten millions of trees that have been planted under the stimulus of pre- 
miums offered by the State, there are no means of knowing. We know 
that some would have planted without special inducement beyond self- 
interest. 

Unlike the experience of the more humid regions of the Atlantic 
States, timber culture west of the Mississippi has difficulties to encounter 
which require energy and patience to overcome. During the past sum- 
mer, in some ten or twelve counties of Minnesota, the grasshoppers proved 
very destructive to young trees, especially to seedlings. The corres- 
pondent just quoted mentions the following as within his experience : 

In October and November, 1875, I planted sixteen acres very thickly with cotton- 
wood and willow cuttings, ash seed and box-elder seed, with a few thousands of 
Cottonwood yearlings. Nearly all from seeds and cuttiogs came up well, and on the 
first of June last that patch of sixteen acres of young forest trees on the broad prai- 
rie was a beautiful sight. But during the month of June and July they were nearly 
all devoured by the "hoppers." I have this fall replanted the same ground, and 
more too. May not grasshoppers, as well as fire, be one of the chief causes of the 
treeless region. 

The State commissioner of statistics, in reporting for 1876, says that 
estimates based upon the returns received, show that a million and a half 
of trees were planted on Arbor Day in 1876^ and ten millions during the 
season. Of these about 70 per cent, were alive and in healthy, growing 
condition October 15th. In noticing the results he says ; 

Indeed, from the sworn statements of parties competing for premiums, we ascer- 
tain that in a large majority of instances, when work was properly and intelligently 
performed, when the ground was properly fitted up, and the necessary cultivation 
given at the proper periods during the growing season, that the percentage of loss 
is surprisingly small — in many instances less than ten per cent. In analyzing the 
returns, we find a very large proportion of the tree-planting has been done where 
there is the most pressing necessity for this kind of work, viz : in the treeless re- 
gion and the counties bordering thereon. For example, Faribault county, with an 
area of 460,800 acres, had, at the time of the United States' survey, 20,300 acres of 
timber, being about ^% acres to each quarter section, if proportionately distributed; 
enough to entice settlers into it, but not enough to last them forever. This county 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. IO9 

realizing her necessities in this regard, has distinguished herself b}^ planting, as re- 
ported by assessors, on Arbor Day, 195,278 forest trees and cuttings, and during the 
entire season the enormous number of 1,804,777, clearly entitled her to the appella- 
tion of the "Banner County," as awarded by the State Forestry Association. 

Nobles county, witli an area of 460,000 acres, had at the survey but 
40 acres of timber, The assessors report in this county 121,052 trees 
planted on Arbor Day, and 693,343 during the season. In the southwest- 
ern group of counties, intersected by or tributary to the Southern Min- 
nesota Railroad, the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad, and the Winona & 
Saint Peter Railroad, in all fifteen counties, lying south of the Minnesota 
river, and having together an area of 6,216,680 acres, and an average 
native supply .of only 1-^- acre to each quarter section, there were planted 
on Arbor Day 799,348 trees, and during the season 5,084,828 forest trees 
and cuttings, or more than half the whole amount in the State. In an- 
other group of counties, equally destitute of timber, on or near the St. 
Paul & Pacific Railroad, and the Hastings & Dakota Railroad, lying north 
of the Minnesota river, comprising ten counties and 4,753,400 acres, there 
were planted on Arbor Day, 279,825 forest trees and cuttings, and during 
the season 898,431. 

The assessors report over 400 miles of windbreak and hedges as planted 
during the season of 1876 on farms bordering upon highways. 

Mr. John H. Stevens, of Minneapolis, in writing to the Department of 
Agriculture upon tree planting in Minnesota, mentions the white, green, 
and black ash, aspen, long-toothed poplar, linden, yellow and white birch, 
black walnut, butternut, box-elder, cottonwood, red and black cherry, 
elms of several kinds, hackberry, shagbark and bitter-nut hickories, red 
mulberry, several of the maples and oaks, and willows, tamarac, and 
many smaller trees and shrubs, as adapted to cultivation in that State. 
As a rule, the evergreens had not done well, and the list of those that 
might be planted with much chance of success were the pine, balsam fir, 
swamp spruce, red and white cedar, and juniper. 

Mr. Stevens insists upon the thorough breaking up of the sod before 
planting, and advises that a hoed crop should be first cultivated so that 
the native sod shall be thoroughly pulverized and rotten. After the crop is 
removed the ground should be plowed deep and then harrowed. He would 
set the cuttings deep and cultivate so as to destroy all weeds and grass. 
He commends the white willow and Lombardy poplar for windbreaks, 
and the buflTalo berry {^Shepardea argentea) as a hedge plant. In starting 
the oak he would plant the acorn where the tree is wanted, as it is not 
easily transplanted. In some instances he had known a cottonwood of 
fifteen years' growth make a cord of wood. The black walnut and but- 
ternut are well worthy of cultivation, especially the former, which grows 
rapidly and is quite valuable. The locust had very often failed, but it 
was hoped that it might yet succeed. He is confident that tree planting 
may be successfully undertaken throughout Minnesota and Dakota, and 
that prairie farms may be easily kept supplied with all the wood needed 
for farm uses and for fuel, by proper care and management. 

TREE PLANTING IN KANSAS. 

SUGGESTIONS BY MR. KELSEY. 

Mr, Kelsey, in an essay read before the Kansas State Horticultural So- 
ciety, Decemljer 15, 1868, from an experience of twenty years in planting, 
of which six had been spent in Kansas, gave the results of his observa- 



no FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

tion, especially with the black walnut, cottonwood and silver maple, 
which he preferred as best adapted for this region. In planting black 
walnuts, he desired they be gathered soon after they drop, and to be 
spread and covered two or three inches deep with moist earth, or, better, 
with saw dust, to keep them moist through the winter. They should be 
planted two inches deep, early in spring, and with fair soil and good cul- 
tivation, they will grow so as to be of some use as fuel in five or sis 
years, and in ten years, would make good fence posts or railroad ties, and 
begin to bear nuts. In fifteen years they would make a fine forest, and, 
if judiciously managed, would go on increasing in value for a century, re- 
turning fair profits annually, and without expense. It should not be 
transplanted, but the seed should be placed where the tree is to stand. 

Cottonwood might be started from shoots of last years' growth, cut in the 
fall and packed in moist saw dust, or buried in the earth till spring. They 
should be a foot long, and might be set with a narrow spade, leaving an inch 
or two out, and pressing the soil firmly about them at setting. Small plants 
with roots might be easily got ; they would begin to be of service as wind- 
breaks and shelter for stock in four years, and the wood makes a fair fire- 
wood. He suggested planting cottonwood alternately with black walnut, to 
make the latter grow taller than if grown alone. 

Silver Maple should be started from seed, which ripens from the 15th to 
the 18th of May, and should be sown immediately in drills, and covered with 
an inch of good, mellow soil. It will come up in six to ten days, and by fall 
of the first year, will be two feet and a half high. The next spring it should 
be set in forest rows, two inches deeper than it stood in the seed-bed, the 
earth being pressed firmly about the roots. In ten years it will be twenty- 
five to thirty feet high, and ten to twelve inches in diameter. It forms a 
beautiful tree while young, and its wood is more valuable than cottonwood, 
being useful for cabinet wares. Its sap will make sugar of good quality, but 
less in quantity than sugar maple. It has the fault of forking, so as to make 
two or more stems, and, except in favorable circumstances, is not likely, if 
left to itself, to make a large, straight tree. It is also split down too easily 
by the wind and by sleet. 

THE CokGRESSIONAL TIMBER CULTURE ACT. 

As this act of Congress more directly concerns and afi"ects our western 
prairies, and the people living thereon, than is yet generally realized, I deem it 
proper and useful to give in this place the act as amended, and under whose pro- 
visions we are now working. I am led to this from the fact that so many 
people are constantly enquiring as to its provisions, many of whom seem, by 
their inquiries, to be considerably confused as to their duties and require- 
ments under the act. 

Answers made to individual enquiries, seem to be generally forgotten 
nearly as soon as answered, and I now propose to furnish such information 
as to save myself, as well as the U. S. Land officers, a large amount of labor 
that can just as well be avoided ia the future. With this information gene- 
rally in the hands of the people, many errors can be avoided, and much val- 
uable time saved. 



THE AMENDED ACT OF JUNE 14, 1878. 

lend an act entitled "An Act to Encourage the Growt] 
Praiiies." 

]ie it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 



AN ACT to amend an act entitled "An Act to Encourage the Growth of Timber on 
the 'Western Praiiies." 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. Ill 

States of America in Congress assembled, That an act entitled "An Act to 
amend the act entitled 'An Act to encourage the growth of timber on the 
Western Prairies,' " approved March thirteenth, eighteen hundred and seven- 
ty-four, be and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows : That 
any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of 
twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have 
filed his declaration of intention to become such, as 'required by the naturali- 
zation laws of the United States, who shall plant, protect, and keep in a 
healthy growing condition for eight years, ten acres of timber on any quarter 
section of any of the public lands of the United States, or five acres on any 
legal subdivision of eighty acres, or two and one-half acres on any legal sub- 
division of forty acres or less, shall be entitled to a patent for the whole of 
said quarter section, or of such legal subdivision of eighty or forty acres, or 
fractional subdivision of less than forty acres, as the case may be, at the ex- 
piration of said eight years, on making proof of such fact by not less than two 
credable witnesses, and a full compliance of the further conditions as pro- 
vided in section two: Provided further, That not more than one quarter of 
any section shall be tTius granted, and that no person shall make .more than 
one entry under the provisions of this act. 

Sec. 2. That the person applying for the benefits of this act shall, upon 
application to the register of the land district in which he or she is about to 
make such entry, make affidavit, before the register or the receiver, or the 
clerk of some court of record, or officer authorized to administer oaths in the 
district where the land is situated; which affidavit shall be as follows, to-wit : 

I, , having filed my application, number , for an entry under the 

provisions of an act entitled "An Act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to 
encourage the growth of timber on the Western Prairies,' " approved — — — , 
187-, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am the head of a family (or 
over twenty-one years of age), and a citizen of the United States (or have 
declared my intention to become such); that the section of land specified in 
my said application is composed exclusively of prairie lands, or other lands 
devoid of timber ; that this filing and entry is made for the cultivation of 
timber, and for my own exclusive use and benefit ; that I have made the 
application in good faith, and not for the purpose of speculation, or direcdy or 
indirectly for the iise or benefit of any other person whomsoever; that I intend 
to hold and cultivate the land, and to fully comply with the provisions of 
this act; and that I have not heretofore made an entry under this act, or the 
acts of which this is amendatory. And upon filing said affidavit with said 
register and said receiver, and on payment of ten dollars if the tract applied 
for is more than eighty acres, and five dollars if it is eighty acres or less, he 
or she shall thereupon be permitted to enter the quantity of land specified ; 
and the party making an entry of a quarter section under the provisions of 
this act shall be required to break or plow five acres covered thereby the first 
year, five acres the second year, and to cultivate to crop or otherwise the 
first five acres broken or plowed the first year; the third year he or she shall 
cultivate to crop or otherwise the five acres broken the second year, and to 
plant in timber, seeds or cuttings the five first broken or plowed, and to cul- 
tivate and put in crop or otherwise the remaining five acres, and the fourth 
year to plant in timber, seeds or cuttings, the remaining five acres. All en- 
tries of less quantitiy than one quarter section shall be plowed, planted, cul- 
tivated and planted to trees, tree seeds, or cuttings, in the same manner and 
in the same proportion as hereinbefore provided' for a quarter section. Pro- 
vided, however, That in case such trees, seeds or cuttings, shall be destroyed 
by grasshoppers, or by extreme or unusual drouth, for any year or term of 



112 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

years, the time for planting such trees, seeds oi- cuttings, shall be extended one 
year for every such year that they are so destroyed: Provided further^ That 
the person making such entry shall, before he or she shall be entitled to 
such extension of time, file with the register and the receiver of the proper land 
office an affidavit, corroborated by two witnesses, setting forth the destruc- 
tion of such trees, and that, in consequence of such destruction, he or she is 
compelled to ask an extension of time, in accordance with the provisions of 
this act : yl?^c^^:)rom(ie(i,ywri/i(^r, That no final certificate shall be given, or 
patent issued, for the land so entered until the expiration of eight years from 
the date of such entry; and if, at the expiration of such time, or at any time 
within five vears thereafter, the person making such entry, or, if he or she 
be dead, his or her heirs or legal representatives, shall prove by two credi- 
ble witnesses that he or she or they have planted, and for not less than eight 
years, have cultivated a.nd protected such quantity and character of trees as 
aforesaid; that not less than twenty-seven hundred trees were planted on each 
acre, and that at the time of making such proof that there shall be then grow- 
ing at least six hundred and seventy-five living and thrifty trees to each acre, 
they shall receive a patent for such tract of land. 

Sec. 3. That if at any time after the filing of said affidavit, and. prior to 
the issuing of the patent for said land, if the claimant shall fail to comply 
with any of the requirements of this act, then and in that event such land 
shall be subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other person 
under the provisions of this act: Provided, That the party making claim to 
said land, either as a homestead settler, or under this act, shall give, at the 
time of filing his application, such notice to the original claimant as shall be 
prescribed by the rules established by the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office; and the rights of the parties shall be determined as in other contested 
cases. 

Sec. 4. That no land acqxiired under the provisions of this act shall in 
any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts contracted 
prior to the issuing of the final certificate thereof. 

Sec. 5. That the Commissioner of the General Laud Office is hereby re- 
quired to prepare and issue such rules and regulations, consistent with this 
act, as shall be necessary and proper to carry its provisions into eftect ; and 
that the registers and receivers of the several land offices shall each be enti- 
tled to receive two dollars at the time of entry, and the like sum when the 
claim is finally established and the final certificate issued. 

Sec. 6. That the fifth section of the act entitled "An Act in addition to 
an act to punish crimes against the United States, and for other purposes," 
approved March third, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all 
oaths, affirmations, and affidavits required or authorized by this act. 

Sec. 7. That parties who have already made entries under the acts ap- 
proved March third, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, and March thir- 
teenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, of which this is amendatory, shall 
be permitted to complete the same upon full compliance with the provisions 
of this act, that is, they shall, at the time of making their final proof, have 
had under cultivation, as required by this act, an amount of timber sufficient 
to make the number of acres required by this act. 

Sec. 8. All acts and parts of acts in conflidt with this act are hereby re- 
pealed. 

Approved June 14, 1878. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. II3 

And now, by connecting with the amendatory law the following explana- 
tions of the changes made, together with the regulations issued by the De- 
partment of the Interior, General Land Office, Washington, D. C, Oct. 1st, 
1878, we have all the information necessary for any one to enable him to 
fully understand the duties, obligations, and rights, under the congressional 
timber culture act. Please study the law, the official explanations and regu- 
lations, and you will then know for yourselves more than you can possibly 
learn by writing to any one for information on the subject. 

LAWS TO PROMOTE TIMBER CULTURE. 

The timber culture act of March 3, 1873, having been amended by the act 
of March 13, 1874, the latter has been further amended by the act of June 
14, 1878. 

I. — Certain provisions of the act of March 13, 1874, are repealed by the act 
of June 14, 1878. 

1. The act of March 13, 1874, at the close of its first section, contains the 
following : ^'Provided, That no more than one quarter of any section shall 
be thus granted, and that no person shall make more than one entry un- 
der the provisions of this act, unless fractional subdivisions of less than forty 
acres are entered, which, in the aggregate, shall not exceed one quarter sec- 
tion." In the act of June 14, 1878, the concluding words, "unless fractional 
subdivisions of less than forty acres are entered, which, in the aggregate, 
shall not exceed one quarter section," are omitted. Hence, the rule forbid- 
ding more than one entry is made universal, and will govern in all future 
cases. I 

2. The provisions of the act of March 13, 1874, requiring that the trees 
shall be not " more than twelve feet apart each way," is omitted from act of 
June 14, 1878. The latter requires, however, that the final proof shall show 
"that not less than twenty-seven hundred trees were planted on each acre, 
and that at the time of making such proof there shall be growing at least six 
hundred and seventy-five living and thrifty trees to each acre." 

3. The closing sentence of the second section of the act of March 13, 1874, 
provides that "in case of the death of a person who has complied with the 
provisions of this act for the period of three years, his heirs or legal repre- 
sentatives shall have the option to comply with the provisions of this act, and 
receive, at the expiration of eight years, a patent for one hundred and sixty 
acres, or receive, without delay, a patent for forty acres, relinquishing all 
claim to the remainder." This provision is not contained in the act of June 
14, 1878. 

4. The following section of the act of March 13, 1874, relating to home- 
stead entries on which timber is cultivated, is omitted from the act of June 
14, 1878. 

Sec. 4. That each and every person who, under the provisions of the act enti- 
tled "An Act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain," ap- 
proved May twentieth, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, or any amendments there- 
to, having a homestead on said public domain, who, at any time after the end of the 
third year of his or her residence thereon, shall, in addition to the settlement and 
improvements now required by law, have had under cultivation, for two years, one 
acre of timber, the trees thereon not being more than twelve feet apart each way, 
and in good thrifty condition; for each and every sixteen acres of said homestead, 
shall, upon due proof of such fact by two credible witnesses, receive his or her 
patent for said homestead. 



ii4 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

The rights of claimants under entries actually made according to the act 
of March 13, 1874, before the 14th of June, 1878, -when the amendatory act 
took effect, are not affected by the repeal of the provisions referred to. The 
parties interested, if they so elect, may consummate their entries according 
to the provisions of the act under which they were initiated. And home- 
stead entries made before the 14th June, 1878, will be patented according to 
the fourth section above quoted, where the facts are such as to bring the cases 
within its provisions and the interested parties so desire. But entries made 
since that time must be adjusted according to the principles of the law as 
modified by the amendatory act. 

II. — The principal points to be observed in proceedings thereunder, majf 
be stated as follows : 

1. The privilege of entry under the act of June 14, 1878, is confined ta 
persons who are heads of families, or over twenty-one years of age, and who 
are citizens of the United States, or have declared their intention to become 
such, according to the naturalization laws. 

2. The affidavit required for initiating an entry under the act of June 14, 
1878. may be made before the register or receiver of the district office for the 
land district embracing the desired tract, before the clerk of some court of 
record, or before any officer authorized to administer oaths in that district. 

3. Not more than one hundred and sixty acres in any one section can be 
entered under this act, and no person can make more than one entry there- 
under. 

4. The ratio of area required to be broken, planted, etc., in all entries un- 
der the act of June 14, 1878, is one- sixteenth of the land embraced in the en- 
try, except where the entered tract is less than forty acres, in which case it is 
one-sixteenth of that quantity. The party making an entry of a quarter sec- 
tion, or one hundred and sixty acres, is required to break or plow five acres 
covered thereby during the first year, and five acres in addition during the 
second year. The five acres broken or plowed during the first year,he is required 
to cultivate by raising a crop, or otherwise, daring the second year, and to 
plant in timber, seeds, or cuttings, during the third year. The five acres 
broken or plowed during the second year, he is required to cultivate, by 
raising a crop, or otherwise, during the third year, and to plant in timber, 
seeds, or cuttings, during the fourth year. The tracts embraced in entries of a 
less quantity than one quarter section are required to be broken or jjlowedjCulti- 
vated, and planted in trees, tree seeds, or cuttings, during the same periods, 
and to the same extent, in proportion to their total areas, as are provided 
for in entries of a quarter section. Provision is made in the act for an ex- 
tension of time in case the trees, seeds, or cuttings planted should be de- 
stroyed by grasshoppers or by extreme and unusual drought. 

5. If, at the expiration of eight years from the date of entry, or at any 
time within five years thereafter, the person making the entry, or, if he be 
dead, his heirs or legal representatives, shall prove, by two credible wit- 
nesses, the planting, cultivating, and protecting of the timber for not less 
than eight years, according to the provisions of the act of June 14, 1878, 
he^ or they, will be entitled to a patent for the land embraced in the 
entry. 

6. If, at any time after one year from the date of entry, and prior to the 
issue of a patent therefor, the claimant shall fail to comply with any of the 
requirements of that act, then, and in that event, such entry will become lia- 
ble to a contest in the manner provided in homestead cases, and upon due 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. II5 

proof of such failure, the entry will be cancelled, and the land become again 
subject to entry under the homestead laws, or by some other person under the 
act of June 14, 1878. 

7. No land required under the provisions of the act of June 14, 1878, 
will in any event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt or debts con- 
tracted prior to the issuing of the final certificate therefor. 

8. The fees for entries under the act of June 14, 1878, are ten dollars, if 
the tract applied for is more than eighty acres; and five dollars, if it is eighty 
acres or less; and the commissions of registers and receivers on all entries 
(irrespective of area) are four dollars (two dollars to each) at the date of 
entry, and a like sum at the date of final proof. « 

9. No distinction is made, as to area or the amount of fee and commis- 
sions, between minimum and double-minimum lands. A party may enter 
one hundred and sixty acres of either, on payment of the prescribed fee and 
commissions. 

10. The fifth section of the act, approved March 3, 1857, entitled, "An 
Act in addition to an act to punish crimes against the United States, and 
for other purposes," is extended to all oaths, affirmations, and affidavits re- 
quired or authorized by the act of June 14, 1878. 

11. Parties who have already made entries under the timber culture acts 
of March 3, 1873, and March 13, 1874, of which the act of June 14, 1878, is 
amendatory, may complete the same by compliance with the requirements of 
the latter act; that is, they may do so by sliowing, at the time of making 
their final proof, that they have had under cultivation, as required by the 
act of June 14, 1878, an amount of timber sufficient to make the number 
of acres required thereby, being one-fourth the number required by the for- 
mer acts. 

III. — The following regulations are prescribed pursuant to the fifth sec- 
tion of the act of June 14, 1878, viz : 

1. The register and receiver will not restrict entries under this act to one 
quarter section only in each section, as was formerly done under the acts to 
which this is amendatory, but may allow entries to be made of subdivisions 
of different quarter sections; provided that each entry shall form a compact 
body, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, and that no more than that 
quantity shall be entered in any one section. Before allowing any entry 
applied for, they will, by a careful examination of the plat and tract-books, 
with reference to any previous entry or entries, within the limits of the same 
section, satisfy themselves that the desired entry is admissible under this 
rule. 

2. When they shall have satisfied themselves that the land applied for is 
prpperly subject to such entry, they will require the party to make the pre- 
scribed affidavit, and to pay the fee and that part of the commissions payable 
at the date of entry, and the receiver will issue his receipt therefor, in dupli- 
cate, giving the party a duplicate receipt. They will number the entry in its 
Older, in a separate series of numbers, unless they have already a series un- 
der the acts to which this act is amendatory, in which case they will number 
the entry as one of that series; they will note the entry on their records and 
report it in their monthly returns, sending up all the papers therein, with an 
abstract of the entries allowed during the month under this act. If the affi- 
davit is made before a justice of the peace, which the act admits of, his offi- 
cial character and the genuineness of his signature must be certified under 



Il6 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

3. When a contest is instituted, as contemplated in the third section of 
the act of June 14, 1878, the contestant will be allowed to make application 
to enter the land. The register will thereupon indorse on the application 
the date of its presentation, and will make the application, and the contest- 
ant's affidavit setting forth the grounds of contest, the basis for further pro- 
ceedings, these papers to accompany the report submitting the case to the 
General Land Office, Should the contest result in the cancellation of the 
contested entry, the contestant may then perfect his own, but no preference 
right will be allowed unless application is made by him at date of instituting 
contest. 

4. The fees and comm^sions in this class of entries the receiver will ac- 
count for in the usual manner, indicating the same as fees and commissions 
on timber culture entries, which will be charged against the maximum of 
$3,000 now allowed by law, 

5. In all cases under this act, it will be required that trees shall be culti- 
vated which shall be of the class included in the term 'Himber,^^ the cultiva- 
tion of shrubbery and fruit trees not being sufficient, 

6. The applications, affidavits, and receipts in entries allowed under the 
act of June 14, 1878, will be made out according to the forms hereto attached, 
Nos. 38, 39 and 40. 

PRUNING AND THINNING. 

On tree pruning, a great difference of opinion exists. You don't want to 
prune your trees late in the winter, nor when the sap is flowing freely. As 
to the exact time when to prune, I do not attach much importance; so do 
your pruning as soon as the tree needs it. When you grow a young forest, 
you can almost do your pruning with your thumb and finger, by pinching off 
the young shoots soon after they start. But, when you have neglected this, 
and the limbs have been allowed to have their own way any length of time, 
then the pruning knife or saw must be brought into requisition. In my own 
experience, I have found any time after the leaves are full grown, until late 
in the fall, is a good time enough to prune in Minnesota. I doubt if any 
rules can be properly given on this subject. Your own judgment and com- 
mon sense must direct you largely in this matter. For wind-breaks, very 
little, if any, pruning is necessary. For a shade tree, you so prune as to 
form a wide spreading top; but, for a yotmg forest, in which the growing of 
timber is the main object, you so prune as to get a long, straight body as 
free from branches as possible; and if yoiir young forest has been as thickly 
planted as it should be, nature will do most of the pruning, nearly, or quite 
as well as need be. First, know what you want of your tree, and then prune 
accordingly. You can so prune and direct its growth as to give it almost 
any shape you choose. Bryant says : 

" In pruning young trees designed for timber, the' symmetry of their form is the 
first consideration. "When taken from the seed bed, all side branches should be cut 
ofE ; only one leading shoot should be allowed, which must not be permitted to 
fork. All side branches which approach in size and vigor to the leading shoot, 
should be shortened or cut off entirely. Suckers from the base of the tree should 
be cut away.'' 

Bryant also says : 

"The best time to prune is, in my opinion, the autumn after the trees have 
ceased their growth. The worst time to prune is the latter part of the winter, and 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. Il7 

in the spring, just before or during the first flow of sap. * * * * ♦ 
Nevertheless, Vhen trees are transplanted in spring, they may be pruned, as they 
do not bleed when recently taken up. When the young trees become large 
enough to crowd, or materially check each other in growth, they must be thinned 
to one foot apart in the rows. Care should be taken to leave the straightest and 
most vigorous trees. The thinning may be continued gradually, as the trees grow 
larger, and those cut out used for purposes to which their size and quality are 
adapted." 

Fuller says : 

"If the trees are properly pruned when young, there will be no necessity for 
taking off large branches when they become old. Too many branches must not 
be taken off at one time, as leaves are indispensable to growth ; but young trees 
may produce more leaves than is necessary for a healthy growth, and a reduction 
in number may increase rather than decrease strength. * * * Pruning should 
not be practiced to such an extent that the tree may be eventually weakened or 
checked in growth. * * * Trees, when standing alone, should have at least 
two-thirds of their height occupied with branches. But, when grown in thickets, 
and for the purpose of producing timber, this rule may be reversed, and_ the 
branches occupy only one- third, varying the rule according to tlie natural habit of 
the tree." * * * 

Fuller also says, further : 

" There is no better time (to prune) than in summer, after the leaves have become 
fully formed, and the tree has commenced to make a new growth. * * * 
Pruning may also be done any time in summer, fall, or early winter. * * » 
Midsummer is the best time to prune all resinous trees." 

In pruning, tise a sharp knife, and make a clean, smooth, upward ciit. 
Should the branches be too large for a knife, us^a fine tooth saw, smoothing 
off the wound with a sharp knife. Where large wounds are made, an appli- 
cation of common grafting- wax, or cow-manure when warm, will exclude the 
air until there will be little danger of decay. 



MOUNTAIN FORESTS AND THE WATER SUPPLY OF THE 

CONTINENT. 

An Open Letter to the Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, from Dr. 
John A. Warder, President of the American Forestry Association. 

North Bend, Ohio, January 8th, 1879. 
Son. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior : 

My Deae Sir. — Observations made on a previous visit to Colorado, and 
again during the past season, in a journey on the Medicine Bow Range, in 
Wyoming, with my friend. Governor J. W. Hoyt, have filled me with appre- 
hensions as to the future water supply of our Western rivers. 

The destruction of the forests by fire is a most fearful and melancholy sub- 
ject to contemplate. An inspection of portions of the public dornain by one 
who has studied the subject, and who has either read of or witnessed the 
disastrous effects of the spoliation of the forests in elevated mountain heights, 
can not fail to fill the mind with the most serious apprehensions. 
Your efforts, my dear Secretary, on behalf of the forests are highly appreciated 



Il8 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

by those of us who have made the influence of the woods upon the water sup- 
ply of our country a matter of study. 

The mountains (up a certain elevation, close to the limit of perpetual con- 
gelation) were designed for the forests, nor should they ever be stripped of 
their arboreal covering; for,, as you have well said in your report of last year, 
if the forests in such regions be once destroyed they will never be restored. 

It were a work of supererogation, my dear sir, to attempt an explanation 
or rationale of the action of the forests as receivers, reservoirs and fountains 
of waters, to one who is evidently so well informed in regard to forest science 
as yourself, whom I have been induced to suspect of having been a pupil of 
Ebermayer, of Bernhardt, of Judeich, of Burckhardt, or some others of the 
magnates in Foerstwirthschaf of the Vaterland. 

But to return to Wyoming, and what was seen while traversing a broad 
plateau of the range, and passing through a glorious forest primeval — a very 
TJhrwald. This is composed chiefly of pines, and among them, in the lower 
and damper spots, the most lovely furs and spruces reared their tall shafts, 
clothed with a mystic drapery of depending boughs, bearing silvery green 
foliage of the Menzies, Douglas and Englemann spruces, and the Grandis firs. 
While contemplating these noble trees, we suddenly came upon a scene of 
appalling desolation. Upon a tract of many square miles in extent, as far as 
the eye could reach in every direction, over many thousands of acres, there 
was not a living tree to be seen ! All, all were standing bare, stark and 
stifi" in death, their tall, dead trunks blackened by fire, except where time 
had come to their relief and stripped ofli' the bark, leaving the bare poles that 
stood beside the way like shivering ghosts *in purgatory, waiting until the 
storms of years should come to their relief and prostrate them to the earth 
that bore them, when they would at length gradually crumble into mold 
to renovate the soil, which had been deprived of all its humus by the fierce 
flames. 

The forest is destroyed, the noble trees ai-e dead and gone, too often, never 
in our time, to return and be a kindly covering and befitting garniture to 
these sad wastes, nor to clothe these mountain sides with verdui'e. ContiTV- 
uecl and continuous desolation is their doom ! 

Practically speaking, this is and must be so; whence can come the seed- 
germs for the future aforesting of such extensive tracts ? Man, the improvi- 
dent destructive, will not do it ; the kindly winds can transport the winged 
seeds but a short distance from the parent trees ; the cunning and provident 
squirrel has a still more limited range within which to carry the seeds he 
may gather, and, with wise instinct, store up for his liberal repast, from 
which a few might escape to germinate and form nuclei, producing at length 
seeds for further transportation in the future. 

Ages must be required to restore these forests in the course of nature, and 
meanwhile the degrading agencies of every storm will be carrying away the 
soil and scarring the mountain sides with frightful gullies, occupied at times 
with violent torrents, for there is no longer any herbage, no moss nor brush, 
nor any debris to cover the surface, and, sponge-like, to absorb and retain 
the precipitated moisture. 

Yes, my good Secretary, you are perfectly right in your assertion that in 
these bared mountains the forests will never be restored, when thus ruth- 
lessly destroyed, in certain situations, and over such vast areas, practically 
speaking in reference to any period of time that it is worth our while to cal- 
culate upon, any time that we or our progeny for many generations need take 
any account of, this is true. 



FOREST TkiEE iPLAJSfTERS' MANUAL. II9 

PREVENTION. 

*But, it may be asked, cannot these terribly destructive fires be prevented ? 
Can not the calamitous results that must follov?" be avoided? Yes! Yes! 
They may, and they must be prevented, and that at once, lest our fair conti- 
nent become a desert, unfitted for the many millions it is capable of happily 
sustaining upon the broad territory of her fruitful bosom. 

That is, indeed, a great question, requiring the exercise of a high order of 
statesmanship. It is truly a difficult question, but the interests at stake are 
enormous, and are of infinitely greater importance to this Nation, than decid- 
ing who of all the great army of office-seekers shall be gratified by an ap- 
pointment to this or that petty place under the government. Oh, that we 
•could be blessed with a race of statesmen capable of grasping such problems 
•as this ! 

Yes, the interests at stake are really enormous; they involve the welfare 
of the country, since they concern the very existence and permanence of our 
rivers. If neglected, will not the future explorer of the vast Sahara that 
may be spread from the eastern slope of these mountains, find, amid the 
■shifting sands of that wide desert, only depressions of the surface, marking 
the ancient beds of our great rivers and their numerous tributaries, in that 
-American Sahara, as Champollion observed them in the wastes of North- 
ern Africa ; of which he said : "And so, the astonishing truth dawns upon 
us, that this desert may once have been a region of groves and fountains, 
and the abode of happy millions. Is there any crime against nature which 
draws down a more terrible curse than that of stripping mother earth of her 
sylvan covering? The hand of man has produced this desert, and, I verily 
believe, every other desert upon the surface of this earth. Earth was Eden 
once, and our misery is the punishment .of our sins against the world of 
plants. The burning sun of the desert is the angel with the flaming sword 
who stands between us and Paradise." 

But how shall this great work be accomplished? How shall we preserve 
these treasure houses of the snow and rain, that they shall steadily distil the 
streams that are to feed our rivers? 

By wise legislation, after we shall have enlightened the public upon the 
subject of an advanced forest science, and educated them up to a proper ap- 
preciation of the importance, and of the special functions of the forests on 
these mountain heights as conservers of moisture, as receivers and as reservoi/rs 
of the water supplies of a large portion of the continent. 

When so educated, and fully informed upon these important truths by an 
•enlightened public sentiment, the people will become more careful in the use 
■of this dangerous agent ; they will be more watchful of their camp fires, and 
-will compel others to be more careful, and they will stamp out the first be- 
iginnings of a conflagration. 

In addition to this enlightened sentiment, and complementary to it legis- 
lation will be needed to operate upon 'those who may wickedly or ignorantly 
transgress. 

Some of your excellent suggestions, Mr. Secretary, as they were incorpor- 
ated in the bill of Senator Plumb, of Kansas, (Sen. No. 609,) would prove 
valuable as preventive measures, if enacted ; especially the appointment of 
Forest Guards, {Forest Wcerter,) in the third section, and prescribing their 
duties. 

Section 13 of this proposed law is one of great importance, being intended 
to furnish protection against fires on the public domain, whether prairies or 
:timber. This is a much needed provision, which has never before existed ia 



I20 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

the case of government lands, thougli provided for by some of the States. 
The losses by fires are enormous, and should be prevented. 

"We all know by sad and painful experience, how difiicult a task it is for 
the philanthropist who presents a simple proposition for the public good, how 
great soever its importance, to arrest the attention of the public. We have 
also learned how almost impossible it is to reach the ear of the law making 
powers, and to excite in their minds an active interest in such questions as 
are here presented; in a word, how herculean an undertaking is presented 
when we attempt to educate the people, and those who represent them in the 
halls of Congress, up to a proper and fall appreciation of such a subject as 
this of forestry, which so deeply concerns the public v/eal. 

More especially unpromising does such an effort appear when an attempt 
is made to impress iipon their minds the absolute necessity of keeping these 
extensive ranges of mountain heights in a condition best adapted to attract . 
and condense the atmospheric humidity, to receive the precipitation, to re- 
tain it for a time, and then gradually and quickly to give off, through perennial 
springs, the fluid to supply the fertilizing streams, that shall fill the rivers, 
which are so happily and so extensively distributed over our great conti- 
nent. 

And now, Mr, Secretary, hoping that you will excuse the prolixity which 
must unavoidably attend the briefest exposition of the subiect, be pleased to 
accept the thanks of your countrymen for the noble stand you have taken in 
defense of our forests on the public domain; and allow an humble student of 
the great leaders and teachers of forest science, on behalf of his associates in 
the upbuilding of an American Forestry ^ to beg your continuance in these 
efforts in behalf of the protection, preservation and extension of our heritage 
of woodlands. 

Very respectfully yours, 

JNO. A. WARDER, M. D., 

President A. F. A. 



From the Pioneer Press of January 15, 1879. 

TIMBER CULTURE. 



A.nnual Meeting of tlie Minnesota Forestry Association. 

An annual meeting of the State Forestry Association was held at the cap- 
itol last evening, Mr. Ignatiixs Donnelly in the chair, and Mr. L. B. Hodges 
at the secretary's desk. 

MR. Donnelly's annual addeess. 

About the first business in order was the delivery of the annual address of 
the president, which was listened to with great interest by the audience. Af- 
ter an interesting review of forest culture in Europe, Mr. Donnelly said : 

One of our unsolved problems is the origin of these prairies. Some have 
claimed that they are due to a peculiarity of the constitution of the soil, 
which renders them unfit for the production of trees, but this theory seems 
to be disproved by the fact that trees can be readily produced upon them; and 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, 121 

that a spontaneous growth of forest soon follows the exclusion of the fires. 
Neither can we ascribe their first existence to these fires, for this vast region 
must have existed long before the Indians could have been developed to ap- 
ply the fire to the autumnal grass. As soon as this portion of the continent 
emerged from the condition of great lakes or lagoons and became marshes, 
trees must have sprung up and covered the land, and long before man ap- 
peared on the scene, with any knowledge of the iise of fii'e, the country must 
have assumed the character of a densely wooded region, which no conflagration 
could destroy. If the soil was once denuded of its forest it would, indeed, 
be easy for the prairie fires, kindled by savages, to keep down the growth 
of yoxmg trees, and produce the state of things which the white settlers found 
here; but what agency could, in the first place, have destroyed the ancient 
forest growth, as heavy and dank as that of the everglades of the South or 
the pine woods of Canada ? It must be remembered that the true prairie 
region, apart from the painless plains, is confined to certain prescribed limits, 
viz: " The western part of Ohio, nearly the whole of Indiana, Illinois and 
Iowa, the southern part of Michigan, the northern part of Missouri, and por- 
tions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska." 

It would seem that either man must have existed, with a knowledge of the 
uses of fires, at the time the swamps of this inter- continental region were 
drained off sufficiently by the accretion of the soil or the rising of the conti- 
nent, to produce trees; and this would be, indeed, a violent presumption ; or else 
it would appear probable that some human agency must have swept away the 
forest through all this region, precisely as it was destroyed by white men, in 
the interest of agriculture, in Europe. ****** 

It would seem nott improbable that on this continent was worked out, un- 
der the directing intelligence of the divine Architect, the great scheme of 
development. The explorations of Prof. O. C. Marsh, of Yale College, in 
the Bad Lands at the base of the Rocky Mountains, demonstrate that in that 
region, where originated the elephant, the rhinocerous, the tapir, the horse, 
the lion, the hyena, the monkey, the hog, and the camel. And it is not im- 
probable that on this continent human civilization began. Here alone, as 
shown in a recent lecture of Dr. David Day, traditions are preserved by ex- 
isting races of the rise of man from a brutish condition, the invention of the 
bow and arrow, and the first working in metal. The iron age was preceded 
by the bronze age. Bronze is an amalgam of copper and tin, and must have 
followed, probably, at a vast interval, the use of copper itself; and only in 
America do we find traces of an age when copper was used alone; and only 
on Lake Superior do we find copper in so pure a state as to be capable of be- 
ing worked into implements w;ithout smelting; and there, too, we find vast 
remains of ancient mining, evidently carried on for ages by some extinct race; 
and in the Chippewa legends we have the traditions of the manufacture of 
the first copper implements. In Mexico the Aztecs had learned the art of 
hardening the edges of their cutting tools with tin, thus producing a verita- 
ble bronze. Here then we have in unbroken succession the genesis of metal- 
lurgy, stretching from the shores of Lake Superior to Astyri, India and 
Egypt. *********** 

It is a strange, but not altogether improbable suggestion, that all the 
prairie region was once occupied by the fields and gardens of a vast, populous, 
peaceful, agricultural, religious people; as numerous as the inhabitants of 
Egypt, in the days of the Rameses. It is well known that their mouments 
do not extend east of Ohio; neither do prairies. It can be supposed that 
thousands of years ago they were driven southward to Mexico and Yuca- 
tan, by savage tribes, and then began a struggle, which has lasted to our day. 



!22 FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 

between the prairie-fires and the advancing forest, the latter crowding in. 
from north, south, east and west, and sheltering itself behind every lake and 
river from the tongues of flames kindled annually by the Indians. * * 

The problem to which our people must address themselves, is how to make 
these mighty plains pleasant homes for human beings; how to stop the sweep 
of the great winds which pour down on them from Mackenzie's river and the 
E-ocky Mountains; for homes, to be pleasant, should be built like bird's nests, 
amid the trees. If man has swept away the forests from whole continents 
to procure fields, surely he has genius and power enough to re-create lines of 
forest to protect the fields which nature, or tbe labors of another race, has 
given him. Ifc must certainly be a harder task to lay bare of trees a thou- 
sand acres than to fence it with groves. But construction needs a higher 
genius than destruction. "He who plants a tree labors for posterity," says 
the proverb; and some are inclined to ask, in the words of Sir Boyle Roche : 
*'What has posterity done for me?" Hence, only the highest representa- 
tives of the highest races are equal to the task of planting a crop that will 
not ripen for ten or twenty years. 

I need not speak to you of the efiects of forest-growth upon the climate of 
a country; with all that you are familiar. It would appear as if the move- 
ments of storms were determined by the laws of electricity. The tendency 
of showers to follow wooded hills and river coiirses has often been ob- 
served. 

W. W. Johnson, one of the Smithsonian reporters, writes from the valleyS 
of Montana: "The showers of summer are of much more frequent occur- 
rence along the mountain sides, and are always of longer duration among the 
timbered peaks and foot-hills, than in the lower and treeless portions of the 
country." 

I have every reason to believe that the presence of groves, dotting the 
whole extent of our prairies, would tend to equalize the fall of rain, and pre- 
vent the excessive droughts which we suffer from at certain periods, and the 
deluging storms which afflict us at other times. In fact, we are now in the 
midst of a very curious experiment, viz : the effect upon climate of the break- 
ing up of the soil and the construction of railroads and telegraph lines. 

R. S. Elliott, industrial agent of the Kansas Pacific Railroad company, 
writes to Prof. Henry, in 1870: "Facts such as these, seem to sustain the 
popular persuasion in Kansas, that a climatic change is taking place, pro- 
moted by the spread of settlements westwardly, breaking up portions of the 
prairie soil, covering the earth with plants that shade the ground more than 
the short grasses, thus checking or modifying the reflection of heat from the i 
earth's surface. The fact is also noted, that even where the prairie soil is not 
disturbed, the short buffalo-grass disappears as the frontier extends westward, 
and its place is taken by grasses and other herbage of taller growth. The 
civil engineers of this railway believe that the rains and humidity of the 
plains have increased during the extension of the railroads and telegraphs 
across them. What eff'ect, if any, the digging and grading, the iron rails, 
the tension of steam in locomotives, the friction of metalic surfaces,, the poles 
and wires, the action of batteries, etc., could possibly have on the electrical 
conditions, as connected with the phenomena of precipitation, I do not, of 
course, undertake to say. It may be that wet seasons have merely happened 
to coincide with railroads and telegraphy." 

A recent writer from Bismarck, D. T., speaking of an old settler in Mon- 
tana, says: "Clendenning is agent of all the transportation companies that 
have occasion to unload freight at Carroll. He has noticed that the water is 
increasing in consequence of the additional rains. He observes that cooleys, 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 23 

formerly dry in the fall, are now full of water. The irrigation was unneces- 
sary this year, and the Indians observe the change. Civilization is turning 
Montana into a wet country." 

It would appear proleable, that when four broad, double bands of iron and 
numerous telegraph wires extend across the continent from Texas, from 
Omaha, from Duluth, and from Winnipeg, united at their eastern and west- 
ern extremities by rivers, mountain chains, forests, and a grid-iron of other 
railroads and telegraphs, that climatic changes may result of the most sur- 
prising character. The prosperity or the poverty of great sections may de- 
pend upon causes now but little understood. If it be true, as alleged, that 
earthquakes have ceased in California since the construction of the Union 
Pacific raili-oad; and if it be also true, as claimed by others, that earthquakes 
are electrical — the thunder-storms of the earth — what strange results may 
not follow when man's enterprise ribs all the continent with conductors of 
electricity hundreds of thousands of miles in length ? 

If I was required to furnish a motto for our society, it would be the one 
word, "Perseverance." Only those who have passed through it can under- 
stand the long, hard, dark, continuous struggle which awaits the settler in a 
new country; the battle with nature: her cruelties and uncertainties, on the 
one hand; and the conflict with his fellow-man, his greed, his cunning and 
his rapacity, on the other. The pioneer-farmer seems sometimes to stand 
alone with everything in air and on earth making war on him, with nothing 
left to him but his indomitable soul. For such a man, so struggling neck- 
deep in distress, to plant groves, construct hedges, rear orchards and plant 
for posterity, requires a breadth of mind that is the highest statesmanship. 
And yet, I would say to all such, "Perseverance!" 

"The columns of our stately fortunes 
Are sculptured with the chisel, not the axe." 

Even the gigantic tides of the St. Lawrence have their ebb, and misfor- 
tunes at last grow weary of submerging their victims and draw sullenly off. 
And then how sweet the home, snatched like a brand from the burning, won 
from innumerable battlings and sheltered amid arboreal beauty that shall 
ever increase as the days roll on. There can be no true home where there 
are no trees. And so I conclude with that one word for the great army of 
tree-planters — "Perseverance." 



TREE CULTURE. 



Another Interesting Meeting oj the 3fmnesota State Forestry Association — 
Address of Prof. C. Y. Lacy, of the State University. 

An adjourned meeting of the State Forestry association was held at the 
capitol last evening, with a good attendance of persons interested in the 
scheme for covering our prairies with forest trees. Lieutenant Governor 
Wakefield presided, and Mr. L. B. Hodges acted as secretary. Prof. Lacy, 
of the State University, then read the following paper : 



124 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

ADDRESS OF PROF. LACY. 

A little more than a year ago a meeting was lield in this hall for the purpose of 
organizing a Forestry Association. On ilie following evening another meeting was 
held, a constitution adopted and officers elected in accordance with it. Soon the 
association numbered more than one hundred members. Before the adjournment 
of the legislature, the association was entrusted with $2,500 to be awarded in pre- 
miums for tree planting. The executive committee of the association met and 
constructed a list of premiums to be competed for. This premium list was printed 
and distributed throughout the State at the expense of the association. The pre- - 
miums have been competed for and many of them awarded. I 

Why this conceded, extended and continued action towards one end by men en- 
gaged in the widely different pursuits of transportation, law, medicine, agriculture, 
legislation and administration ? Was it to gratify the whims of a few half-crazy 
enthusiasts ? Was it because it was easier to complj^ with the wishes of such in 
cases of doubtful utility than to resist their arguments and entreaties ? No.- The 
association includes such men as Geo. L. Becker, E. F. Drake, Herman Trott, Wm. 
W. Folwell, L. B. Hodges, J. W. McClung, H. H. Sibley, and J. S. Pillsbury— men 
who have not been suspected of insanity in other affairs — men who have not time 
to treat individual cases outside of the insane asylum — men who have the sagacity 
to read the true nature of facts correctl}^, and the force of character to say no when 
their judgment demands it. The Minnesota State Forestry Association was organ- 
ized to meet and deal with the stern realities of facts. It was organized to meet 
the fact that over more than one-third the great State of Minnesota the winds rush 
with a howling fang and with a bitter cold that neither beast nor fruit can resist nor 
withstand, and for miles not a single forest' tree rears its head in protest. It was 
organized to meet the fact that in a cliniate which affords six months of winter, 
much of it fearfully severe, there are thousands of farms on which there does not 
grow one particle of fuel, and on which it cannot be obtained without the expend- 
iture of both money and labor by a people often destitute of means. It was organ- 
ized to meet the fact that for miles and miles there is not a single landmark to guide 
the benumbed and benighted traveler. It was organized to meet the fact that to 
induce human beings to make their homes on such farms, is downright inhumanity. 
It was organized to meet the fact that people cannot and will not submit to these 
conditions, but when undeceived will abandon their new homes and seek elsewhere. 
This association was organized to deal with the fact that forests break the force and 
fury of winds, yield fuel and material for fencing and building, and furnish land- 
marks for the traveler. It was organized to deal with the fact that forests can be 
grown. Gentlemen, these are not mere figures of rhetoric. They are solemn 
statements of facts, which the most thorough investigation will only confirm. The 
force of the wind on ourwestern prairies cannot be conceived of by you who have 
always lived within the area of forests. They are simply terrible to endure and 
appalling to contemplate. They carry death alike to the unprotected beast and the 
more tender forms of arboreal life. Fuel must not only be purchased at a fair price, 
but must be transported by rail, and often in addition, it must be hauled a distance 
which requires a journey of one or even two days. When unexpectedly overtaken 
on these broad prairies by darkness or blinding snow, the traveler has no guide, 
and is liable to be overcome by cold and discouragement when within a mile of his 
own home. It is cruel and inhuman to place human beings in the midst of such 
conditions. And it is not uncommon for our frontier settlers to abandon their in- 
hospitable homes and to follow the flowing waters of the Mississippi to more genial 
climates. To show that belts and blocks of forests on every quarter section would 
completely change all these conditions needs no argument. That forests can be 
grown, the millions of trees that have been planted in this State, and in Kansas, 
Iowa and Nebraska, and are now growing, show conclusively. 

Thus far I have indulged in no speculation, no theory, no fancy. What I have 
claimed for forests no man of good judgment will attempt to question or contradict. 
But those who have given the subject most attention are firmly convinced that 
forests will do more than arrest the wind, modif}^ the cold, produce fuel, yield lum- 
ber and fencing material, guide the traveler, invite the emigrant and retain the pi- 
oneer settler. I am convinced that forests will modify climate in other respects 
than its temperature. They will affect the rainfall. The experience of Egypt and 
of one of the West India Islands indicates this, if it does not prove it. In the 
former case rain fell after several million trees were planted in a district where it 
was never known to fall before. In the latter instance, where the forests were de- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 125 

stroyed, the rains ceased to fall and streams dried up. The island was allowed to 
grow up to forest and the rainfall returned. Again the island was denuded, with 
the same result as before. 

Forests will preserve our springs and streams. They prevent the rain from flow- 
ing off from the surface as fast as it falls, thus producing destructive freshets, and 
cause it to sink gradually in the soil, thence to feed constantly flowing springs or 
the waste of evaporation. 

Forests will distribute the fall of rain more equally throughout the year. It is 
believed in the Eastern States that droughts are more protracted and severe than in 
former years when forests were raore extensive. 

Forests will make the atmosphere more moist, more humid. With a brisk wind 
blowing, the air is blown away as fast as it becomes moist by contact with the earth. 
When the wind is arrested by forests, the moist air remains. 

Through their influence on temperature, winds and moisture, forests will help to 
solve the problem of successful fruit culture. The forest tree must precede the 
fruit tree. Plant the former and the latter will follow with comparative ease. 

May not fruits prove the ultimate solution of our most perplexing problem, the 
grasshopper ? Insects are the chief food of many birds, and birds are doubtless the 
instruments of Providence for keeping the insect world within proper limits. For- 
ests harbor and protect myriads of birds that find no suitable home upon the open 
prairie. The great difference in the kind and abundance of feathered life on com- 
ing into the vicinity of a grove is very marked. At first thought it would seem to 
need birds in greater numbers than can possibly be obtained to make any headway. 
But their capacity must not be undervalued. Each small bird can consume the 
young grasshoppers almost by hundreds daily, and the eggs by tens of hundreds, 
and living upon them year after year, the birds would much hasten the decline and 
exhaustion of each migration. Besides, it is very probable that forests may ini- 
pede the migrations of the grasshopper. I do not consider it at all unlikely that if 
Dakota and Nebraska had been forest instead of prairie region, the grasshoppers 
would never have reached Minnesota and Iowa. 

But the pressing need of forests in Minnesota is to break the force of the wind, 
modify the temperature, and furnish fuel and lumber, and landmarks. For these 
purposes we must have forests. These wants they can supply without a shadow of 
doubt or question. We must grow these forests where they do not already exist, 
and in our State they must be grown over a large area. 

Different authorities differ in their estimates of the proper proportion between 
forest and cultivated areas. The estimates run from 20 to 33 per cent., varying 
somewhat according to the distance of the country from the ocean, or other large 
bodies of water. Taking distance as a basis, the higher estimate would be none too 
high for Minnesota, Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa ; but let us take the lower 
estimate and see how Minnesota stands, and what she requires. Taken as a whole, 
and compared with some other States, she does not appear to be very badly off. 
The census of 1876 showed 20 per cent, of the farm area in wood land in Minnesota, 
while Iowa has but 16, Kansas 11, Nebraska 10 and California 4. Of the total area, 
17 per cent, is estimated to be in wood land in Minnesota, while in Iowa it is only 14, 
in Kansas 5>o', Nebraska 5, and California 8 per cent. But it is not suSicient that 
there should be within the limits of the State a fair proportion of wood land. 
Every farm must have its protecting belt and its supply of fuel and fencing. And 
when we come to examine the different parts of the State we do not find the results 
so encouraging. We find the wood land very unequally distributed. Some coun- 
ties are composed almost entirely of it. In others the government survey does not 
show any, and in several others the wood land is less than 500 acres, often lying in 
one piece along some stream. In one piece in the southwestern part of the State, 
containing 23 counties, and more than ten millions of acres, the government survey 
reported only 80,144 acres of wood land. 

This is thought to be double the true amount of timber at the present time; but 
if we allow that it is suflacient to supply the people of those counties with fuel for 
the next five years, we need not further take it into account. To put 20 per cent, 
of this area in forest will require the planting of two millions of acres. As to the 
distance at which trees should stand authorities differ, but we will take such a max- 
imum as shall raise no dispute. We will assume that they should stand, at the end 
of ten years, one rod apart each way, or 160 to the acre. They should be planted 
then in rows not more than eight feet apart and four feet in the row, or 1,380 on 
each acre. After the lapse of four or five years, the necessary thinning would sup- 
ply fuel and fencing. This gives us, at the least calculation, a grand total of 2,760 
millions of trees that should be planted next summer, in order to give these twenty. 



126 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

three counties a proper proportion of forest ten years hence. If we were to allow 
for probable failures, we should increase these figures by at least 25 per cent., and if 
we were to allow for the requirements of other parts of the State, we should in- 
crease this result by at least 50 per cent. The numbers already given are sufficient, 
however, to show the magnitude of the work before us. 

Humanity requires us to do this work, for to invite the emigrant to our treeless 
prairies is cruel inhumanity. Public policy requires us to do this work , for without 
it the treeless regions will remain uninhabited, or else their inhabitants will con- 
tinually require the bounty of the State. Humanity, public policy and the magni- 
tude of the work all demand that we each and every one of us give it our best 
encouragement and our best assistance. 

What encouragement have we ? In the first place we are assured that the plant- 
ing of trees will accomplish what we seek to accomplish — they will protect from 
winds, modify the temperature, yield fuel and lumber. 

In the second place we have good reason to believe that numerous other good 
effects will follow, that the rainfall will be better distributed, our springs and 
streams preserved, the air rendered more humid, fruit culture facilitated and de- 
structive insects checked. 

In the third place we know that trees will grow on our prairies if properly plant- 
ed and protected. It was formerly believed, because nature had not permitted 
them to grow, that trees would not grow on our prairies. This the numerous artifi- 
cial groves scattered all over the States of Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, as well as 
our own experience here at home, sufficiently refute. 

In the fourth place we are not pioneers in this business of forestry. Foreign 
governments long ago, and very generally, took measures for the preservation of 
their forests. France, Germany, Russia, Egypt and other countries have planted 
forests by the thousands of acres. There government actually does the work. 
Here government is only asked to encourage what is so manifestly for the advan- 
tage of the people. The people of Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska have led the way, 
and now have groves of trees ten inches in diameter and forty to fifty feet high. 
Minnesota has already begun the work and planted so many trees that, were it not 
for the vast necessities, it would seem that enough had been done. The assessors' 
returns of last summer show, in the twenty-three counties above named, more than 
thirty-two millions of trees planted and growing. This number might be greatly 
increased, perhaps doubled, without exceeding the truth. In either case the num- 
ber is large, but how small compared with the 2,7G0 millions that need to be grow- 
ing. The number is large enough to show that side by side with the most wonderful 
torpidity and unbelief, some people are alive and wide awake to the necessities and 
the possibilities of this great region. The number is large enough to show that we 
have only to keep the ball in motion to produce grand I'csults — to show that our 
encouragement and assistance will not be tendered in vain. 

In the fifth place the growth of these trees on our prairie soils is rapid, and even 
small plantations produced material results in a very few years. It used to be taught 
that he who planted trees planted for posterity. But the skillful modern cultivator 
plants trees for himself as well as for posterity. Fruit trees yield fruit in two or ' 
three years from planting. Forest trees rear their heads from 25 to 40 feet in the 
course of five to ten years. The few trees planted around a dwelling for shade and 
ornament soon make the winds seem not to blow as ihej did before the trees were 
planted. Ten acres properly planted to forest trees will, in five years, more than 
furnish the fuel and fencing necessary to furnish a large farm. 

In the sixth place, while the planting of trees is a long investment compared 
with the sowing of wheat and other like crops, there is no danger of its being a 
losing one. Properly planted on good prairie soil the trees are almost certain to grow 
rapidly. There is no serious danger to be apprehended from insects. The demand 
for wood is in no danger of being cut off or even seriously diminished. Many 
claim that large profits will accrue, and while I do not doubt the fairness of their 
statements, I am content to claim that there can be no loss. 

In the seventh place, we know that to plant a few trees is not so vast an under- 
taking as is generallj'^ supposed. The experience of the past year bears directly 
upon this point. We have the statements, supported by the affidavits of several 
men who planted on last Arbor Day more than 2,500 rooted trees, and of two at 
least who planted 5, 000 or over. We Lave the statements, similarly verified, of more 
than a dozen men who planted last Arbor Day upwards of 7;000 cuttings, four of 
whom planted more than 10,000 each, and one of whom planted 15,411 cuttings, of 
which more than 13,000 were living trees in October. We have the verified state- 
ment of a boy only 14 years old who planted on Arbor Day 7,500 cuttings. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 12/ 

But what, it may be asked, have we to do with this matter ? We don't live in 
the treeless regions. We don't suffer from violent winds, bitter cold or trackless 
wastes. We can get plenty of fuel and of lumber at reasonable prices. Why should 
we trouble ourselves to consider this matter ? I answer, that we are a part of this 
great commonwealth. So are these treeless regions and their inhabitants. Our 
happiness, our reputation, and our continued prosperity do not depend alone upon 
our little home circle, but they depend upon the condition and prosperity of the 
entire State. We cannot be happy while our fellow citizens are enduring the pings 
of cold and hunger. We cannot enjoy a good reputation while anypirt of our 
State bears a stigma. We cannot continue prosperous when the tide of productive 
labor is turned toward more genial climates, or toward those States which show 
more concern for the happiness and welfare of their people. Thus it is our duly as 
well as our privilege to encourage this thing by showing the faith that is in us, to 
assist it by imparting information to those who seek it and will use it ; to encour- 
age and assist by such other means as may lie within our power. Many of you are 
legislators. It is your duty to keep a watchful guard over the interests of your own 
district, but still more j'our duty to study carefully the interest of the entire State. 
It is for your judgment to determine how much you shall encourage this great in- 
terest of tree planting by official act. Monarchical governments actually perform 
work of this kind. It is the duty of republican governments to encourage the peo- 
ple to do it. Many States have already taken measures to this end. In Massachu- 
setts, with but two counties having less than 15 per cent, of woodland, a premium 
of $1,000 has been paid for the best grove of forest trees ten years old. In New 
York, with but three counties having less than 12 per cent, of woodland, bounties 
are paid to encourage this object. Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and California 
are also encouraging tree planting by the payment of premiums. The legislature 
of Minnesota at its last session appropriated $2,500 for the encouragement of tree 
planting, and does not the planting of ten millions of trees last season justify the 
act? It is the policy of good government everywhere to do or to encourage that 
which is for the good of its people. The people and the State of Minnesota can do 
nothing that will be fraught with greater or more lasting good than the planting of 
trees. In the prairie counties it is the prelude to increased production and to suc- 
cessful fruit culture. It is the prelude or accompaniment to successful settlement. 
Nor will all the advantages of tree planting be conflned to the prairie counties. 
But few agricultural counties in the State have over 20 per cent, of woodland. It 
is almost certain that the productive capacity would be greatly increased by raising 
the proportion to 20 or 25 per cent. Dr. John A. Warder, of Ohio, President of 
the American Forestry Association, advises the farmers of that State to plant 25 per 
cent, of their farms in forest, believing that the remainder will produce more than 
if the entire area were cultivated. A nurseryman of New Jersey says that within 
the shelter of evergreen belts that had been allowed to grow up to a height of 25 to 
30 feet in his nursery, farm crops and crops of nursery trees averaged 50 per cent, 
better than when not so protected. Other examples of the same kind might be 
named, showing that while the prairie counties need tree planting the most, they 
are not the only ones to profit from it. The fact is that the natural forests are van- 
ishing so fast under the increasing demands of a fast increasing population, that 
the Whole nation must sooner or later turn its attention to tree planting. 

But the planting of trees is not the only measure by which the treeless region is 
to be redeemed. Stop the prairie fires, and groves of trees of greater or less extent 
will spring up and grow of themselves. Probably fire has done more than any 
other agent to preserve the prairie, and when fire and cattle are restrained trees are 
not long in making their appearance. Require the owners of stock to take care of 
it, and you relieve these natural groves from another enemy. You relieve our pres- 
ent forests from a great drain made upon them for fencing material, and you facili- 
tate the act of planting, because you permit the settler to do it at once, instead of 
incurring first the labor and expense of fencing his tract. 



128 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 



FOREST CULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 



Extracts from an Essay Read at the Annual Meeting of the State Agricvl- 

tural Society at the State University ^ in IKinneapolis, February bth, 1875. 

Hy Leonard S. Hodges^ Superintendent of Tree Planting^ First 

Division St. Paul <& Pacific Pailroad Company. 



A large volume concisely written would fail to do justice to the subject, 
and I crave your charitable consideration while presenting a few of the 
most prominent points suggested in its practical bearings upon our mate- 
rial interests. 

While the northern and northeastern portions of Minnesota are em- 
phatically timbered regions, the southwest and western portions of our 
State are very destitute of timber. While Minnesota as a State is more 
abundantly supplied with timber than either Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Ne- 
braska, Nevada, Dakota or California, yet the stubborn fact exists that 
nearly or quite one- third of the finest agricultural lands of Minnesota are 
absolutely too destitute of timber to admit of settlement and cultivation. 
Hence the propriety of the State Agricultural Society taking hold of 
this subject, and rendering such aid as the magnitude of this interest de- 
mands. In the proper presentation of this subject, it becomes necessary 
to introduce facts bearing upon timber consumption as well as timber 
culture, that the general knowledge of our present necessities may ena- 
ble us to make suitable provisions against approaching want. Many of 
us have been permitted to witness, within the last twenty-five years, an 
increase of population from about 5,000 in 1850, to about 600,000 in 
1875. 

Estimating five persons to a family, Minnesota now contains 120,000 
families. To provide one family a comfortable degree of warmth through- 
out the year, requires twelve cords of wood. This one item of fuel for 
the household demands an annual consumption of 1,440,000 cords of 
wood. 

We have in Minnesota, in round numbers, say two thousand miles of 
railroad, with 2130 or 240 locomotive engines, consuming annually, with 
the necessary supply to railroad stations, not less than two hundred and 
twenty thousand cords. The 5,000,000 ties entering into the original con- 
struction of our 2,000 miles of railroad, used up not less than 240.000 
cords, and as they have to be renewed as often as once in seven years, 
here is another annual consumption of nearly 35,000 cords. When we 
also take into account the bridge timbers used in the construction and 
maintenance of our railroads, and the timber required for the construc- 
tion and maintenance of the necessary station houses, warehouses, fences, 
&c., we can add another annual item of not less than 15,000 cords. When 
we take into account the consumption of timber in building our cities, 
towns and villages, and the amount consumed in fencing the sixty thou- 
sand farms in Minnesota, we are just beginning to get fairly into the mer- 
its of the question. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 29 

Let us recapitulate a moment. 

Cords. 

For household fuel, 1, 144,000 

For locomotives, &c. 220,000 

For repairing railroads, &c., 50,000 

Total, 1,710,000 

Estimating our timbered lands to yield an average of 23 cords per acre, 
which I consider a liberal estimate, we find that about 75,000 acres of 
the forests of Minnesota are being stripped annually for our households 
and railroads alone. For fencing our farms, bridges for public highways, 
manufacturing purposes, the operation of our lumbermen who furnish 
the material for building our towns and cities, not only for Minnesota, 
but to a large extent for Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota and Manitoba, no one 
will quarrel with me, if at a rough guess I place this consumption equiv- 
alent to the annual stripping of another 75,000 acres. Hence I have some 
reason from the above approximations, to infer that the annual consump- 
tion of timber of this State is equivalent to the destruction of one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand acres of the primeval forests of Minnesota every 
year. The geographies in t»e in the public schools of Minnesota, say its 
area is 83,531 square miles. Our Commissioner of Statistics estimates our 
forests to cover one-sixth of our area. From these data you can figure 
how long our wood pile will hold out with our 2:)resent population. 

Twenty-five years hence, with a million or more of population, our 
pineries exhausted, the Big Woods pretty well thinned out, the Missis- 
sippi drying up, St. Paul and Minneapolis three or four hundred miles 
above the head of steamboat navigation, mercury 40" below zero, and 
the wind blowing a hurricane, is not the idle revery of a dreamer. 

Destroying one hundred and fifty thousand acres of forest annually, and 
planting to supply this loss — how much ? Can this society answer ? Can 
the State of Minnesota? If you can, the answers are in order now, for 
even now the grasshopper has become a burden, and the mourners go 
about the street ; the frontier settlers of our treeless regions are twisting 
up prairie grass for fuel, burning prairie sods, and grubbing out old stumps 
and roots, doing their best to extract sufficient warmth therefrom to pre- 
vent their wives and little ones from freezing, alas ! not always succeed- 
ing. The honest farmers, with loads of our great staple, on their way to 
the nearest market, overtaken with the pitiless storm and frozen to death, 
without a tree or bush or shrub in sight ; our public highways and rail- 
roads blockaded, travel suspended, the mails stopped, commercial and 
other great interests embarrassed. 

Through the kindness of our worthy Secretary, I am enabled from offi- 
cial data in the United States Surveyor General's ofl&ce, to lay before you 
some statistics which are both "interesting and instructive." 

Estinmates of timber in the following counties, from plats on file in the 
United States Surveyor General's office, St. Paul, Minn.: 

Counties. Acres timber. 

Eock • 700 

Nobles, 40 

Martin, - 2,200 

Faribault, 20,300 

Pipe Stone 00 

9 



I3P FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

Murray, 850 

Cottonwood, 50 

Watonwan 2,800 

Brown 22,400 

*Lyon .. 2,800 

Red Wood 2,000 

Yellow Medicine 1,500 

Renville 4,000 

Lac qui Parle 2,200 

Chippewa 3,520 

Big Stone 495 

Swift 1,470 

Traverse 00 

Pope 13,500 

Stevens 686 

Grant 373 

Wilkin 260 

Olmstead 170,000 

I have placed Olmstead county in this list for the purpose of illustra- 
tion and comparison. This county, named for my highly esteemed and 
lamented friend, Hon. David Olmstead, one of the founders of Minnesota, 
was settled in 1854, and organized in 1855. Its total area is about 422,- 
400 acres. Its timber area, at the time of its government survey in 1853 
and 1854, was estimated by the government surveyors at 170,000 acres, 
being about 64.4 acres of timber to each quarter section. Like the State, 
this county is abundantly supplied with timber, but it was not conveni- 
ently distributed, the northwestern and southeastern portions being heav- 
ily timbered on the Zumbro and Root rivers, with all the deciduous vari- 
eties, while the river bluffs were in many places heavily timbered with 
white pine and red cedar. 

The intervening area was mainly prairie, with occasionally a small 
grove, and patches of hazel, wild plum, cherry, crab-apple, jack oak and 
aspen brush. 

The old Dubuque and St. Paul stage road scarcely encountered a stick 
of timber from intersection of the northern boundary of the county until 
it struck the Root river timber near its southern boundary, with scarcely 
any timber in sight. It was a common remark of the stage passengers 
that this portion of Minnesota would never be settled, and in answer to 
this remark made in the winter of 1854 and 1855, by a well known, 
wealthy and influential gentleman, then and yet a resident of St. Paul, 
that we would have 10,000 people in there within ten years, I got the 
sneering reply that we would have 10,000 fools if we did. To-day 20,000 
people occupy that region ; the largest, most expensive and magnificent 
school house in Minnesota — if not in the United States — stands within a 
few hundred yards of what was then the most desolate and lonely point 
on this portion of the old stage road, and is occupied by more than one 
thousand children who reside within rifle shot of this school house, and 
the fools are not all dead yet ! Olmstead county has probably the largest 
proportion of cultivated land to its area of any county in Minnesota, and 
yet a large proportion of her heaviest farmers haul every stick of their 
fire wood, fencing and building material from ten to twenty miles. With 

»This probably includes both Lyon and Lincoln counties. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. I31 

good roads they make a trip a day. On the eastern borders of the tree- 
less region it takes the farmer two days to get a load of fire wood ; while 
a hundred miles from any timber to amount to anything, the farmer can 
purchase tire wood, seasoned hard maple, of some of the railroad com- 
panies, cheaper than the same quality of wood could be had in St. Paul, 
Rochester or Stillwater. 

Wilkin county has a larger area than Olmstead county, and with a rea- 
sonable supply of timber, would in a few years be as densely settled and 
contribute as much revenue to the State. Yet should the present popu- 
lation of Olmstead county be suddenly transferred to Wilkin county, they 
would burn up every stick of fire wood in that county in less than thirty 
days of such weather as Minnesota has experienced within the last month. 
If they were transferred to Nobles county, they would consume the timber 
of that county in less than a week ; or, if transferred to Pipe Stone or 
Traverse, they would consume the last stick of wood in those counties in 
cooking their first meal of victuals. 

Olmstead county, with an annual production of about two million 
bushels of wheat, and other agricultural products in proportion, has not 
yet reached more than half way to her maximum product, but a trifle 
over one-third of her total area having yet been placed under cultiva- 
tion. Twenty-five years hence, when fully developed, she will support a 
population of 40,000. 

Olmstead county pays into the State treasury over $20,000 per annum. 
West of Olmstead county, on the same line of railway, out in the treeless 
region, we strike Lyon county. Just as good soil, capable of producing 
-as much wealth, yet with less than half an acre of timber to a quarter 
section of prairie, has nearly reached her limit of population and wealth. 
Lyon county contributed in 1873, $628.91 as her quota to the State 
treasury. The same instructive comparison could be made with 23 other 
treeless counties. 

It would take all the timber in Lyon county to run Olmstead county 
eighteen months. 

Does the State desire to see those treeless counties able to contribute 
$20 to the State treasury where they now contribute one ? 

The State extracts about |20,000 revenue per annum in State taxes 
from those most destitute counties of the treeless region ; returns it all 
as soon as collected to keep the inhabitants from freezing to death every 
winter, besides contributing twice as much in provisions and seed wheat 
to keep them from starving, and yet, so far, refuse through their legisla- 
ture to appropriate a dollar to the only project which will ever redeem 
those treeless counties from virtual pauperism, and place them in a con- 
dition which will enable them to subsist upon the fruit of their own 
labors, and also pay their just quota to the revenues of the State. 

A member of the legislature should remember that he is not only the 
representative of his own local district, but equally so of the State at 
large , and while vigilantly guarding and promoting the interests of his 
own immediate locality, should employ the same energy and vigilance 
in promoting such interests as contribute to the general welfare of the 
State. 

The State has also a direct interest in the improvement and consequent 
development of this treeless region, for she owns in fee simple not less than 
seven hundred thousand acres of choice agricultural lands, in a regiou so 
destitute of timber as to render them practically worthless. As Minneso- 



132 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

tians we are indignant, and justly condemn the selfisli policy of non-resi- 
dent landholders, who, doing nothing themselves to enhance their value, yet 
reap a profit on such investments, through the toil and privations of our 
hardy pioneers. As a great landed proprietor, the State owes it to herself 
to mark out, pursue and develop a system of forest tree culture which will, 
in a few years, render those lands valuable, and consequently saleable. 
Every dollar judiciously, intelligently and honestly expended on such a sys- 
tem would come back to the State treasury in a few years with increase "an. 
hundred fold," like the seed we read of ''sown on good ground," for it is^ 
emphatically good ground to plant trees on. 

The ready sale of lands thereby accruing would, in a comparatively short 
time, double our school fund, liquidate our State railroad bonds, and bridge 
our streams. The State revenues would indirectly be so augmented as to^ 
reduce our State tax to less than one mill on a dollar, returning to the tax: 
payers of the timbered districts tenfold for their temporary advances. 

Agriculture, pre eminently the great interest of Minnesota, the founda- 
tion and support of all other interests, would thereby be enabled to so spread 
itself that this treeless region, now dependent on the bounty of the State 
for "seed wheat," would in a short period be enabled not only to return it 
"with usury," but would also be able to add naore than a hundred millions 
bushels of wheat to our exports annually, with a proportionate increase of 
horses and cattle, butter and cheese. 

Every consideration of sound policy, enlightened statesmanship, common 
sense and practical humanity, urges the State to the prompt inauguration 
and rapid execution of such a compreliensive system of forest tree culture as 
will render such results possible. 

That the State partially recognizes the importance of forest tree culture 
is apparent, when we refer to the legislation already had in this behalf.. 
But it is only a step in the right direction. Such additional legislation 
should at once be had as to render operative the acts already enacted. The 
State should at once organize a tree planting department, and appropriate 
such a sum of money for its operations as to enable it to accomplish such 
results as could be reasonably expected under a faithful, practical, intelligent 
and honest administration of its aifairs. 

This society should awaken to a full sense of its duties in this behalf. In 
the exercise of its appropriate and legitimate functions, the general public 
expect it to lead off in the promotion of agricultural interest. Any plan 
having for its immediate object the promotion of such interests, is entitled 
to its hearty co-operation and continued aid, or at least a fair trial. 

The peculiar weakness of human nature to be in haste to become rich, 
continually acts as a drawback to the sure, but gradual accumulation of 
wealth. The young man of enterprise, industry and ambition, is generally 
in too big a hurry for pevTnanent success. The profits on a quarter section of 
wheat, with its speedy returns in ready money within a year or two from, 
the commencement of his work, is more alluring than the slow accumula- 
tions through stock growing and tree planting, and their consequent perma- 
nent values. The too common, but mistaken idea, that it takes too long to. 
wait to get any good from tree planting must be corrected. 

Right here I propose to challenge the present prevailing sentiments and 
opinions about tree planting by a few assertions, which, if false, can be read- 
ly disproved, and if true, will be of permanent value to this State. 



1 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 33 

1st. I assert that the farmer on the bleakest portions of our treeless re- 
gions can, with less ready money than it would cost to buy a breaking plow, 
Surround his stock yard and buildings with a windbreak within five years, 
that will protect him as effectually as though he was in the middle of the 
Big Woods. 

2d, That a crop of trees can be grown as surely, and in proportion to its 
value, with far less expense than a crop of com. 

3rd. That ten acres, properly planted to timber, and properly cultivated, 
will in five years supply fuel for a family in great abundance, and also 
fencing for the farm of 160 acres. 

4th. That the most worthless lands of our treeless regions can, through 
the intervention of the tree planter, be sold for one hundred dollars per 
acre within twenty years. 

5th. That the net profits on a qviarter section of prairie, properly pre- 
pared-, planted and cultivated with forest trees, will within ten years exceed 
the net profits of ten quarter sections of wheat. 

6th. That a single cotton wood seed, although smaller than a "grain of 
mustard," can by intelligent cultivation be developed into a cord of fire- 
wood within twenty years. 

7th. That any young man of muscular development and good "horse 
sense," can surely accomplish these results; providing always that he is not 
in too great haste to get rich ; and 

8th. That the genuine white willow, properly handled, will increase 
faster than money at interest at four per cent, per month, and that the First 
Division of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company is now prepared to fur- 
nish it to settlers on their lines, delivered at any station on the prairie, free of 
transportation, at a cost of from one to two dollars per thousand trees. These 
may to some sound like bold, reckless, and perhaps, ignorant assertions, but 
they are hereby made, and I propose to stand by them. 

We will now consider a few facts about the 

(JROWTH OF FOREST TREES. 

I bring forward only Minnesota growths as specimens of what has already 
been done. We have no occasion to draw from other States for facts for the en- 
couragement of forest culture. From many hundreds of similar facts, I 
select the following as suflicient : 

Cottonwoods, in Olmstead county, seventeen years old, are from 50 to 60 
feet high, and from 60 to 81 inches in circumference. Cottonwood in Dakota 
county, seventeen years old, are over sixty feet high, from 81 to 90 inches in 
•circumference, and will yield a cord of fire-wood per tree, and are now stand- 
ing on the farm of A. E. Messenger, Esq. 

jBasswood are now standing on timber land cleared by the writer in 1857, 
in the town of Oronoco, Olmstead county, 30 feet high, 25 inches in circum- 
ference. Ash, on same ground, 13 to 21 inches in circumference, 25 feet 
high, 10 to 12 years old. Butternut, 15 inches in circumference, 25 feet 
high, 14- years old. Pignut hickory, 15 inches in circumference, 25 feet high, 
10 to 14 years old. This is on ground cleared from 10 to 18 years ago, and 
left to the care of nature ever since. 

On "grub prairie," in the village of Oronoco, where the grubs did not aver- 
age two feet high, and nothing but oak to be seen twenty years ago, now 



134 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

stands a grove from which I select jack-oak trees 20 to 26 inches in circum- 
ference, and 25 to 30 feet high; white-oak trees, 21 to 23 inches in circum- 
ference, and 20 to 30 feet high ; butternut, 27 inches in circumference, and 
25 to 30 feet high. 

All this without any cultivation, no protection from cattle, but pretty well 
protected from fire. 

In the door yard of John K. Kepner, Little Valley, Olmstead county, 
black walnut in bearing, 7 years old, from seed, 3 to 5 inches in diameter, 
18 to 20 feet high; elm trees, 6 years from seed, 2 to 4 inches in diameter; scar- 
let maple still larger; box elder, larger yet, and cottonwoods twice as large as 
the box elder; honey locust rather slow grower, but hardy, only one in fifty 
having killed during the hard winter of 1^^72-3; white pine 20 feet high, 6 
to 8 inches in diameter, transplanted from the forest, seven or eight years 
ago, when only a few inches high; balsam fir, 23^ feet high, 38 inches in cir- 
cumference, one foot above the ground, 12 years old, the branches covering 
a circle of more than fifty feet." On the farm of Hon. Dwight Rathburn, 
Fillmore county, black ash, seven or eight years old from seed, 18 to 21 
inches in circumference, 18 feet high, with beautifully shaped tops 15 to 18' 
feet across. In the door yard of Gen. Gorman, St. Paul, tamaracks trans- 
planted from the swamp eighteen years ago, 30 to 35 feet high, and 24 to 34 
inches in circumference — large enough for railroad ties. Sugar maple, on 
Dayton avenue, St. Paul, 23 to 26 inches in circumference. On the farm of 
Harrison Waldron, of Byron, Olmstead county, white willow, 41 inches in . 
circumference one foot above the ground, and 40 feet high, eight years from 
the cutting. Mr. G. N. Waldron, in the same vicinity, has white willows of 
still larger growth. At Winona, bass wood, planted in 1859, 20 inches in cir- 
cumference ; hard maple, same age, 1 6 inches in circumference; soft maple, plant- 
ed five or six years later, 28 inches in circumference; elm, planted in 1859 or 
'60, 54 inches in circumference; cottonwood, planted in the same row at the 
same time, 78 inches in circumference. These results, gratifying as they are,, 
might have been materially increased by better cultivation, some of the trees 
having received no cultivation, and many of them but little. 

Besides the destruction of the forests of Minnesota caused by the constant 
demand for fuel, fencing and building material, the destruction caused by the 
ravages of fire, and the depredations of horses, cattle and sheep, is scarcely 
less. This loss is almost wholly unnecessary, and as the result of sheer neg- 
ligence our annual losses, without any equivalent gain, are immense. I am 
indebted to the courtesy of Col. Griggs of St. Paul, for the following item of 
fuel consumption in St. Paul, which can be relied upon as a very close ap- 
proximation, based upon purchases and sales of the wood and coal dealers im 
St. Paul for 1874 : 

Wood , 40,000 cords. 

Coal 20,000 tons. 

Beducing coal to wood — one ton of coal equivalent to one and a half cords. 
of wood — gives 70,000 cords of wood as the actual consvimption of St. Paul 
for 1874. As this is nearly all the best quality of wood, chiefly sugar maple,, 
to reduce it to the average grade of our forests would swell the measurement 
to aboxit 96,000 cords. Population, say 40,000 ; number of families, say 
8,000, equals twelve cords to each family, thus verifying my original estimate 
of twelve cords per annum to an average family, of average wood. It may be 
objected by some that my estimates are erroneous, because I do not wholly 
embrace the amount of coal annually consumed in Minnesota. This is a point 
worth raising. If Minnesota is already too destitute of timber to be unable 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 135 

to compete with Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the matter of sup- 
plying her own people with cheap fuel, she had better go to growing forests at 
once, stop the sending of money to other States for fuel, and keep it among 
ourselves. In the timber estimates from the Surveyor General's office, it is 
proper to remark that these estimates are not absolutely correct, the timber 
not being meandered, its intersection by township and section lines and 
bearings noted. Although a close approximation, my personal observation 
of the timber in many of those counties causes me to think those estimates 
were originally high enough, while the consumption and destruction since 
occurring by the settlers, by fire and cattle, will far exceed the growth. 

I might enlarge this paper, perhaps profitably, with a chapter on the un- 
timely efiects sure to ensue from the destruction of our forests — the drying 
up of ovir creeks and navigable streams, shortening of crops by drought, de- 
struction of property by floods, diminished and uncertain rainfalls, &c. I 
might also show some of the blessings resulting from extensive forest culture, 
in the favorable climatic changes sure to follow better sanitary conditions, 
and the virtual promotion of all the material interests of the State ; but I 
am admonished to be "short and concise," and will close by saying there is a 
rich mine of undeveloped wealth in our treeless regions, which can only be 
developed by a comprehensive broad gauge system of tree planting. 



THE TEACHINGS OF MANY YEARS' EXrERIENCE IN FOREST 

CULTURE. 

Agricultural Editor of tlie Pioneer Press : 

Many years' experience in timber culture on the farm in central Iowa, has taught 
me that one hundred cords of wood can be successfully rfiised on one acre of land in 
ten years' time, by planting in belts on the border of the farm. 

That the white willow (Salix alba) is the best border tree for the northwest. That 
the yellow Cottonwood of the Missouri valley, when planted where it has room to 
develop itself, has no equal save the yellow poplar (tulip tree) of the Middle 
States. That the catalpa is making a good growth as far north as the 42d parallel 
north latitude, is a fine ornamental tree, and is said to be valuable timber for posts 
and railroad ties. That the seeds of the black walnut should be planted in the fall 
as soon as gathered, either in the seed-bed or where it should stand in the grove; 
should be taken from the seed-bed at one year old and transplanted in the grove of 
young trees that will not overshadow it while young, and when it is twentj'^-five or 
thirty feet high the nurse trees should be taken out, that it may develope into 
worth. That the white walnut is easily transplanted, and is worthy of the attention 
of the tree-planting public. That the white or green ash is a tree of great value for 
farm purposes, easily transplanted, and should be found growing on every farm. 
That the sugar tree, sometimes called "hard maple," is one of our finest ornamental 
trees, stands transplanting well, and is not easily broken by the storm, has few 
equals on the street or lawn. That the soft maple is a valuable forest tree, and 
should be set in a thick grove, transplants well at one and two years old, is one of the 
poorest for the border, as the storms break it worse than almost any other tree. 
That the box-elder is one of the valuable hardy trees for the border, street or lawn; 
can be cut in any shape, and will stand more abuse than almost any other tree; 
makes a valuable shade for the pasture. That the honey locust is a valuable timber 
tree, of thrifty growth, and transplants well, and were it not for its thorn producing 
propensity, would have few equals; the thorny ones, if managed right, make a good 
hedge for those who like it. I hat the buckthorn and berberry are hedge plants of 
value in the northwest; though slow of growth, will make impenetrable barriers 
"with proper care in time. That the osage orange is a failure in 42 north latitude. 



136 FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 

That tree culture in Linn and Benton counties, Iowa, has proved the best invest- 
ment made by those who have done the most of it, as acknowledged to me by them- 

W. L. BROCKMAJT. 
Carkoll City, Iowa, January 15th, 1S79 . 



FOREST CULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 



A Paper Read hefore the State Forestry Association, at the Oajyitol, Satur- 
day Evening, Feb. I2th, 1876, by Leonard B. Hodges, 



Mr. President : 

In endeavoring to comply with the invitation of the State Forestry Association to 
address them this evening on the important subject of forest culture in Minnesota, 
I am painfully conscious of my inability to do justice to a subject, the proper dis- 
cussion of which might well occupy the best minds of the State. I crave your indul- 
gence and that of the company present, while endeavoring to lay before you some 
of the reasons which I trust may be of service in awakening a new interest in a matter 
of vital importance to Minnesota; and in doing so, may perhaps bring forward facts 
and items not wholly new; yet of such practical importance as to bear repeating. 
With line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, all impor- 
tant truths are inculcated. 

Until within a few j'ears, the emigrant to Minnesota has been able to obtain good 
farming land, with plenty of good timber adjoining,, or within convenient dis- 
tance. 

Thousands of the earlier settlers were fortunate in obtaining prairie, timber and 
running water on the same farm. Others coming in later, have obtained choice 
prairie farms with good timber within three to live miles. And as emigration has 
gradually over-run the most desirable agricultural portions of the State, the inter- 
vening distance between large bodies of choice wheat land and groves of timber, 
has gradually widened out, until now we find the great body of our most produc- 
tive agricultural lands so remote from timber as to seriously interfere with their 
settlement. 

The emigrant who now comes to Minnesota to obtain a farm under the provisions 
of the Homestead or Pre-emption Law, is compelled to make his choice either in the 
heavy timber or in the treeless region. The question for him to determine at the 
outset is this : Shall I settle in the heavy timbei and spend a lifetime in hewing 
out a farm, or shall I go out in the treeless region and reverse the process — plant, 
cultivate and prune, instead of cut and slash, burn and grub. Hence the impor- 
tance and necessity of a correct solution of a question which is of interest not only 
to the poor emigrant and the well-to-do farmer hunting a new location where he 
can obtain a thousand or five thousand acres of cheap, rich land, where he can set- 
tle his half dozen sturdy lads around him, but also to the entire State, and more es- 
pecially to the towns and cities of the State, whose continued growth and prosper- 
ity can only be secured and permanently maintained by the gradual and complete 
agricultural development of what is known as the treeless region of Minnesota. 
This region stretching away from the "Big Woods" on the east, to Dakota on the 
west — from Iowa on the south to Manitoba on the north — covering an area of more 
than twenty thousand square miles— almost an empire in extent— really the fairest 
portion of Minnesota — capable, when fully developed, of adding a hundred million 
bushels of wheat to the exports of the State, with a corresponding amount of cattle 
and dairy products — crossed and re-crossed by seven different lines of land-grant 
railroads, rendering it easily accessible from all quarters ; presented to the emi- 
grant the largest, most fertile and most accessible body of government land now 
remaining in the United States, needs only the intervention of the tree-planter to 
transform this desert solitude into what nature intended it for, one of the granaries 
of the world. On this broad expanse of fertile prairies, with natural meadows, lovely 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 13/ 

lakes and running streams, forty thousand families can find free homesteads and 
a healthy climate within hearing of the whistle of the locomotive. 

The redemption of this treeless solitude; the conversion of its desert wastes into 
fruitful fields, is an object of great importance, not alone to this particular region, 
but also to the entire State. The pioneer work to be done in efEecting this change 
is the patient, persistent, untiring labor of the tree-planter. 

THE TREELESS REaiON, 

To illustrate the necessity and magnitude of the work, let us take a glance at 
what is known as the "Treeless Region." 

Fortunately for Minnesota, she embraces within her borders but a fraction of that 
great waste which covers the greater portion of the interior section of Ihe North 
American continent. 

The map which I have placed in view, compiled by Prof. Brewer, of Yale Col- 
lege, shows at a glance the treeless region. Our own portion is so small compared 
with the whole, as at first glance to seem too insignificant to make such ado over. 
Yet we must take into account, small as it appears on the map, it is capable when 
fully developed of sustaining five times the present population of the State. 
, There is, in addition to the increased productive area to be developed by an ex- 
tended system of forest culture, the climatic changes and consequent benefits re- 
sulting therefrom, to be considered. 

_ The great objection, and really the only one that is urged against Minnesota by 
rival interests, is the climate. VVe point with pride to the progress of our State 
during the past twenty-five years. Its transformation from a howling wilderness 
to a sovereign State, with its common schools, its colleges, its churches, its com- 
mercial and manufacturing interests, its 2,000 miles of railroad, and its annual crop 
of 30,000.000 bushels of wheat. 

We challenge the world to produce a finer brand of flour than is made every day 
in Minnesota from Minnesota wheat; we challenge the world to produce an entire 
community of 600,000 people as well fed, as well clothed, as well educated, as well 
supplied with the comforts of life, and as well paid for their labor, as are the 600,- 
000 inhabitants of Minnesota. And those of us who have been here from the early 
days, whose labors, privations, foresight and energy have contributed so largely to 
such magnificent results, — while we may individually regret lost opportunities, 
each of us can with more than Roman exultation exclaim, "I ama Minnesotian." 

Yet knowing bej'-ond the possibility of any mistake, that we can offer to the emi- 
grant better inducements than any other equal area on God's footstool; we are fail- 
ing to get our share. The treeless arid plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Texas, with 
their protracted droughts, their grasshopper experiences and their malarial 
fevers, are more than successfully competing with Minnesota for emigration. 

And why ? Simply on account of the grossly exaggerated stories of our winters. 
That in Minnesota men freeze to death going after a load of wood; farmers freeze to 
death while hauling their wheat to their nearest market; and that there are weeks 
at a time when it is impossible for a man to go from his house to his barn without 
one end of a rope fastened around him and the other end in the house, in his wife's 
hands, so she could haul him in, hand over hand, before he perishes; and that even 
in St. Paul, the principal occupation of the street commissioners and their force in 
winter is in sweeping and shoveling up bushels and wagon loads of fragments of 
frozen ears and noses which encumber the sidewallis and pavements. 

The great electrical storm of January 7th, 8th and 9th, 1873, which sTvept over 
Manitoba, Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and other ex- 
tensive areas, carrying suffering and death into each of those States and Territories, 
is all located by rival interests in Minnesota. 

The story of that storm and its attendant horrors is more firmly established and 
more vividly remembered among people seeking new homes in the west, than even 
the Sioux outbreak in 1862, and is more lastinir in its effects. 

Now, what are we going to do about it ? While we laugh at the absurdity of such 
stories, we realize their disastrous effects. There is no use in denying them, for the 
grain of truth we are willing to admit, carries conviction as to the truth of the 
whole. 

I see no way but "to take the bull by the horns" and "face the music." Save 
the breath now spent in denying these absurdities for hard work. Instead of a 
clothes-line running from the'house to the barn, surround that house and barn with 
a live wind-break of willow, cottonwood, larch, pine and spruce ; surround your 



138 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

farms with belts of forest timber; line your public highways with rows of elm, sugar 
maple, butternut, black walnut, basswood and ash; plant plentifully of acorns in the 
shaded places of your wind-breaks and hedge rows; plant the seed of the ash, elm, 
box elder, Cottonwood, bassw©od, and hackberry on every frontier farm in the State. 
Take care of them, cultivate them and protect them from fires and from cattle; ex- 
tend this system over our entire treeless region, and in a very few years our winters 
will be robbed of their terrors, blizzards will be unknown, the grasshoppers will 
cease to be a burden, the devastating hail storms of midsummer will fail to appear, 
protracted droughts and devastating floods will be of rare occurrence. Snow block- 
ades, with their attendant embarrassments and loss of time and money, will b'e un- 
known, the average yield of our cereal crops will be increased, cattle and horses 
will do better, the difficulties attendant upon fruit growing will vanish, our treeless 
region will be densely settled, the revenue of the State quadrupled, individual tax- 
ation lightened, and Minnesota triumphantly vindicated. 

WORK TO BE DONE. 

In looking over this last paragraph, I see there is a good deal of work laid out. This 
work has got to he done. As a State, we are in a similar predicament to the boy after 
the wood-chuck. We must hme the wood-chuck. How to dig him out the quickest 
and cheapest, is the question always in order. We have all got to dig. This Min- 
nesota State Forestry Association has got to make the dirt fly. We propose to do a 
heap of digging next Arbor Day, (first Tuesday of May,) and to plant so many trees 
in Minnesota on that day, that for the next hundred years people will talk of that 
day's work, and point to the results with gratitude and pride. 

And right here I come to a tender spot ; the members of this association expect 
I'll saj"- something to the legislature in this behalf. Now, I have been a member of 
the legislature myself, and so have most of the members of the State Forestry 
Association. 

We know what it is to be buzzed, button-holed, bored, aad bamboozled generally. 
We think we know ourselves better than to fool away our time ; besides, we have 
too much to do. As a society, we are giving the State our experience and our serv- 
ices gratis, we work hard and board ourselves ; we ask no pay for those services, 
virtue is its own reward. But we do ask the legislature to appropriate a small sum 
of money to encourage forest culture in Minnesota. 

How do you propose to use it ? 

First, to expend a portion of the appropriation in the publication and distribution 
of a small pamphlet for gratuitous circulation among the people ; this pamphlet to 
be clearly and tersely written, eminently practical, embodying the experience of 
practical men, pointing out the proper methods of preparing the ground, how to 
plant, what to plant, how and when to cultivate, cost of planting, how to propagate 
successfully from seeds and cuttings; in short, to give such information on forest 
culture, that the work may be done successfully, and that time and money be not 
wasted ; it should also contain the laws of Minnesota relating to forestry, the con- 
gressional timber culture act, the pre-emption act, and the homestead act. It would 
come so near being an emigration document, that a few chapters on the resources 
of Minnesota might be profitably appropriately added without much extra cost. 
Then we propose to devote a large portion of the appropriation in premiums, to be 
distributed among the people for the general observance of Arbor Day. 

The very encouraging results obtained from the very inadequate premiums offered 
by The Pioneer Press Company, and the First Division of St. Paul & Pacific Rail- 
road Company, to parties planting the most trees or cuttings on Arbor Day last 
spring, shows clearly what may be accomplished by a premium list commensurate 
with the magnitude of the work. 

A MILLION OF TREES PLANTED. 

From the best information I can obtain, I feel safe in saying, that more than a 
million forest trees were planted last Arbor Day in Minnesota, under the stimulus 
of less than $400, and none of that in money. 

Those premiums were so offered that but one in each county could, by any possi- 
bility win. They were offered so late that not half of the people heard of the offer 
until the day was past. 

This association propose to arrange a premium list so comprehensive and so wide 
in its range, and to throw it before the public so early, that every man, woman, boy 



I 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 39 

or girl in Minnesota can have a fair chance of winning a prize. We do not rely 
solely on the legislature for help to carry on this work ; we are trying to help our- 
selves. 

A month has not yet passed since the organization of the Minnesota Forestry 
Asfiociation ; from initiation fees and from donations, we can already offer $700 for 
premiums next Arbor Day. 

We can surely raise this amount to $1000 within a week. 

• 

THE PRACTICABILITY OF THE WORK. 

This is a question to be considered in this connection. Practical men who have 
made forest culture a study and a business, have no doubts on this subject. 

Impracticable men, educated fools, and those whose skulls are so thick as to re- 
quire a pile-driver to assist them in getting a new idea, denounce it as impracti- 
cable. 

I apprehend the great diversity of opinion on this subject is, in part, to be ac- 
counted for in the wide range of territory the treeless region of the North Ameri- 
can continent covers. 

I apprehend, and indeed my own experience has suggested and confirmed the 
idea, that the difficjilty increases in almost exact proportion to the distance from 
large bodies of timber. 

In my own work for three successive years, I have been obliged to observe that 
the expense and difficulty of forest culture increases in very exact proportion to the 
distance west of the Big Woods. As far west as Wilmar no difficulty has yet been 
experienced. West of that point, we very soon observe a perceptible decrease of 
rainfall. We are gradually approaching the arid, treeless region of Dakota and the 
plains country. 

As we gradually approach this arid region, greater care is found to be necessary 
in preparing the soil. Greater care is necessary in handling and planting the young 
trees and cuttings. More cultivation is necessary. Excessive aridity is to be over- 
come, not by the water-pot, but by the cultivator. 

Heavy mulching will be found useful. 

Greater skill, greater care, more and better cultivation, greater experience and 
more hard, horse sense, will be needed the further you go west. Our own portion 
of the treeless region can be redeemed by forest culture without any great difficulty 
or expense. We are, as it were, only on its borders. But when you get out among 
the sand hills of the Coteaus, and among the breeding places of the migratory 
grasshopper and Colorado beetle, you've struck a horse of another color. A big 
one, and not easily curried. 

I apprehend that the final redemption of the great treeless region of the conti- 
nent will be, by the gradual approaches of the tree planter from Minnesota, and 
other regions where rainfalls are sufficiently abundant to insure a reasonable degree 
of success. 

My own impression is, that as these artificial plantations are increased and pushed 
gradually out into the treeless region, that the earth and the air will gradually be- 
come somewhat ameliorated ; that the excessive aridity will gradually yield to 
increasing moisture, and that rainfalls, if not more abundant, will be more durable 
in effect. Hence, the work we accomplish in redeeming our own portion of the 
treeless region sheds its beneficial influences over Dakota, and as we incidentally 
help Dakota, Dakota will more than repay us in the groves and windbreaks she will 
be enabled to erect between us and Old Boreas. 

Now, about the cost of this work, enough has been said to show that the cost 
varies with the locality in which the work is to be done. 

I suppose that portion of the treeless region of Minnesota which is intersected by 
the Main Line of the First Division St. Paul & Pacific Railroad is a fair average of 
the treeless region of Minnesota— no better and no worse. Now; my experience in 
this work on that range of country, enables me to say with considerable confidence, 
that I can figure as closely on the cost of growing 40 acres of forest timber out 
there, as any farmer can on the cost of growing 40 acres of wheat, or of corn ; I 
might truly say with more certainty, for there is less risk in raising a crop of forest 
trees ; if the corn fails to mature in season, no atonement is possible ; not so with 
the trees, if they get a backset one year, they can make it all up the next. Na 
crop grown for profit in Minnesota is more certain to afford satisfactory results 



■140 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

GROWING TIMBER FOR PROFIT. 

In growing forest timber for profit, I should plant much closer than 12 feet apart 
■each way, I would advise planting first so as to be sure of complying fully with 
the requirements of the law ; and then, instead of planting corn or some other 
hoed crop, I would plant the intervening spaces with forest tree seeds, so as to 
have an average stand of four feet apart each way. 

The object of thick planting is to compel the young trees to a correct habit of 
growth, and to sooner shade the ground, thereby shortening up4he time of culti- 
vation, and consequently diminishing the cost of cultivation. 

After two or three years of good cultivation, the annual shedding of the foliage 
of all the quick-growing varieties would so mulch the ground as to render further 
cultivation unnecessary. 

Ground properly broken in June, re-plowed in October following. Can be planted 
at once. If you break too early or too late, I would not undertake to say when you 
•couid plant it. "^ "^ 

I can, however, say, without any mental reservation, that the men who commence 
breaking before the grass is good enough for their o-xen to work on, or who con- 
tinue to run their breaking plows after the prairie grass stops growing, are not only 
fooling away their time and labor, but laying the foundation for disappointment 
and failure. Every new comer is pretty sure to fall into this error unless warned, 
and even then, bitter experience is too often the result of knowing too much. 

PROTECTION ANP PRESERVATION OF OUR FORESTS. 

Closely allied to forest culture is the preservation of our native forests. The 
rapidity of their destruction and the inevitable calamities resulting therefrom 
ought^ to awaken us to a lively sense of our duty in this regard. This rapid de- 
struction of our native forests is increasing in eXact ratio to the development of 
the country. Drafts upon them, which would have seemed incredible twenty-five 
years ago, are now made and honored with scarcely a thought of the future. 

DEMANDS OF CIVILIZATION ON OUR NATIVE FORESTS. 

In my address before the State Agricultural Society, one year ago, I estimated 
the annual consumption of wood in Minnesota, to call for an amount equivalent to 
the annual destruction of 150,000 acres of the native forests of Minnesota. Subse- 
quent investigations confirm the truth of that estimate. We have probably 9,000 - 
000 acres of fair average forest in Minnesota. If our present condition remaina 
unchanged, our supply is good for about 60 years, but if we as a Slate keep step 
with the advance of civilization, there are persons now in this room who will live 
to see our present supply completely exhausted, unless the supply is renewed bv 
artificial planting. ■' 

If 600,000 people require 150,000 acres annually, 1,200,000 will require 300 000 
acres annually, which would exhaust the present supply within the probable life- 
time of the young man just striking out for himself. 

Wisconsin is destroying her forests at an equally rapid rate. 

50,000 acres of Wisconsin forests are cut annually to supply the Kansas and Ne- 
braska trade alone. 

10,000 acres of forests goes into the stoves and furnaces of Chicago every year. 
Many additional thousands of acres are annually required to supply that city with 
the enormous conflagrations she has a habit of indulging in. 

The Lumberman's Directory for 1874-5 says the Chicago lumber trade handles 
annually 1,350,000,000 feet of lumber, shingles and lath. 

This aggregate, enormous as it seems, is but one-tenth of the annual consump- 
tion of the country. 

The Chicago capital used in the lumber trade is $33,000,000. 

Within the last ten years 12,000,000 acres have been burned over, simply to clear the 
land. 

It is calculated that 8,000,000 acres are cleared every year, and only 10 000 acres 
planted. 

THE TARIFF AND TRANSPORTATION. 

Two causes peculiar to this country increase the consumption of our own wood 
beyond its natural limits. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 14I 

The first is the tariff, which, by taxing foreign competition almost out of the 
marliet, concentrates our demfind upon our vanishing forests. 

The second is, that prices do not advance, and so check demand. 

The reason for this is, that transportation is the chief element of cost in the 
wood delivered at our doors, and this increases so rapidly as to counteract the oth- 
erwise inevitable increase in price. I can buy cordwood for one dollar per cord on 
line of railroad within 110 miles of St. Paul, but transportation will make it cost 
me $3 per cord by the time it reaches this city. Gen. Brisbine of the U. S. 
army, produces figures in support of the assertion that "at the present rate of 
consumption, in ten, or at most in twenty years, the forests of Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin and Minnesota will be swept away.'' There is now left untouched, he says, in 
the whole territory of the United States, but one really fine belt of timber — that 
growing on about one-half of Washington Territory and one-third of Oregon ; and 
this, when the Northern Paciflc Railroad is built, will soon be destroyed. Then 
the last great American Forest will have disappeared ; and by the way, I am credi- 
bly informed that the material for the construction of a common lumber wagon 
does not exist in that great forest, or, indeed, west of the great plains. 

It should be borne in mind that to this time our great forests have met the de- 
mands and destruction of a gradually increasing population, from 3 to 40,000,000 
people. We have now gone through and surrounded our great timber reserves, and 
we enter on the margin of the great treeless waste, with our original store three- 
quarters consumed, the demand accelerated and the consumers to rise rapidly from 
40,000,000 to 50,000,000 within the last quarter of the present century. A little 
common arithmetic will satisfy any thinking man of the consequences, and of the 
proportion which the demand and supply will bear to each other at the close, as 
compared with the commencement of this century. Extend the time another de- 
cade, with the added population, and it will be fortunate if our people get boards 
three inches wide, as in China at the present time. 

THE DEMANDS OF CIVILIZATION. 

The increasing wants of civilization are running way ahead of the supply accumu- 
lated by the growth of past centuries. Forests, those vast aggregations of nature's 
forces, accumulated by an allwise power for the good of mankind, are melting 
away before the demands of the present, like frost before the morning sun. 

Civilization is dependent on the forests, and when they fail, civilization goes up 
the spout. 

In addition to the ever increasing demands of civilization, another element, fire, 
is annually making such ravages in our forests, that the ravages of the grasshopper 
and potato bug dwindle into insignificance in comparison. 

Between the demands of civilization and ravages from fire, our native forests are 
getting badly squeezed. Civilization and fire will in time rob us of the Mississippi 
river, unless this thing is checked and regulated pretty soon. 

When our northern forests and the big woods west of us have disa'ppeared, as they 
assuredly will, unless the State takes more interest in this question than it has 
hitherto been inclined to, who will care to live in Minnesota ? 

Gentlemen of the legislature, if you have any regard for the best interests of Min- 
nesota, make it manifest by a liberal appropriation for the immediate encourage- 
ment of forest culture. Guard it as carefully as you please, but make it at once 
available. Don't stop there; make arbor day a legal holiday. Organize a State 
Land Department; and appoint a commission of the best men in the State to look into 
the condition of our northern forests. Encourage the people in every practical way 
to plant trees by the wholesale. Do this now, and the blessings of posterity will fol- 
low you. 

GOVERNMENT ON FORESTRY. 

I am not of those who are continually holding up the example of foreign coun- 
tries and governments as models for our own atairs. I do not believe in purchasing 
new red fiannel shirts for the amelioration of the unfortunate infants of "Barrio- 
boolaGha," while our own urchins are in want of shirts. I cannot say that I can 
fully appreciate that high toned, fashionable civilization which crowds the Opera 
House of this city, to listen to the dulcet strains of the Hutchinsons, or the ponder- 
ous eloquence of the companion of John Stuart Mill, Bradlaugh, or Queen Victoria, 
in picturing the beauties of country life in England; while such men as Delano, 
Donnelly, Bishop, Marshall, Dunbar, Becker, Webb, Drake, McClung and others 



142 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

have great difficulty in calling together a corporal's guard to take part ia the dis- 
cussion of home questions, upon the proper discussion of which the existence of 
civilization depends. But I do believe in applying the beneficial results of the 
experience of foreign nations in the correct solution of great national problems like 
the one now under discussion. 

When the Khedive of Egypt, oy a sensible expenditure of government funds in 
tree planting, demonstrates to the world the possibility of redeeming even the 
deserts of Africa, and rendering them subservient to the wants of civilization; when 
the government of France redeems entire provinces from ruin, from drifting 'sands 
which gradually rise upon crops as if they were inundated with water, and the 
herbage and even the tops of trees which appear quite green and healthy even to 
the moment of their being overwhelmed with sand— arresting and efEectually stay- 
ing the progress of this desolation, by planting over 100,000 acres with the mari- 
time j>ine,(pinus pilaster) which now produces immense amounts of tar, resin lamp- 
black and timber; when in the north of Germany immense tracts of loose, drifting 
sands have in like manner been covered with pine forests; when even Russia has 
successfully employed the tree planter in fixing the surfaces of the sandy wastes in 
her southern provinces; when the bared mountain tops of Germany and Austria of 
Sweden and Norway, are by government authority being reclothed by the plantino- 
of new forests: when at this time most of the governments of Europe have throuo-h 
the lessons of dear bought experience, been compelled to recognize the importance 
of forestry, and encourage it by all the fostering influences at their command-— 
may not we, profiting by their experience, take timely warning and by timely econ- 
omy provide against approaching desolation ? 

CIVILIZATION DEPENDENT ON FORESTS. 

The eminent scholar, G. P. Marsh, in his great work, entitled "Man and Nature " 
says : "If we compare the present physical condition of the countries of which I 
am speaking (the Koman Empire) with the descriptions that ancient historians and 
geographers have given of their fertility and general capability of administering to 
human uses, we shall find that more than one-half of their whole extent including 
the provinces the most celebrated for their profusion and variety of their sponta- 
neous and their cultivated products, and for the wealth and social advancement of 
their inhabitants, is either deserted by civilized man, and surrendered to hopeless 
desolation, or at least, greatly reduced, both in productiveness and population 
Vast forests have disappeared from mountain spurs and ridges; the vegetable earth 
accumulated beneath the trees by the decay of leaves and fallen trunks • the soil of 
the alpine pastures, which skirted and indented the woods, and the mold of the 
upland fields are washed away; meadows once productive, fertilized by irrigation 
are waste and unproductive, because the springs that fed them are dried 
up; rivers, famous in history and song, have shrunk to humble brooklets- 
the willows that ornamented and protected their banks are gone and the 
rivulets have ceased to exist as perennial currents, because the little water that finds 
Its way into their old channels is evaporated by the droughts of summer or absorb- 
ed by the parched earth before it reaches the low-lands; the beds of- the 
brooks have widened into broad expanses of sand and gravel, over which though 
in the hot season passed dry shod, in winter sea-like torrents thunder; the entrances 
of navigable streams are obstructed by sand-bars; and harbors, once marts of an ex- 
tensive commerce, are shoaled by the deposits of the rivers, at whose mouths thev 
lie." •' 

All this might have been prevented if the Roman grangers had passed a few bills 
for the encouragement of tree planting. But they didn't do it, and you now see 
what a fix they have got into, by not attending to tree plating in season 

The forests of Lebanon, once the supply of neieihboring countries have long 
since disappeared; the mountain ranges of Syria, and the once powerful kingdom of 
Persia, are now dry, barren ridges of naked rock, absolutely incapable of re-pruduc- 
ing the woods which once covered them. 

Large tracts in the interior of Asia Minor, and even portions of Italy, are now a 
horrible desert, seamed with ravines and gullies, or piled with ridges of sand and 
gravel, and utterly irreclaimable to the use of man. ' 

Blanque, a French writer, quoted by Marsh, speaking of the destruction of the 
forest in certain mountainous parts of France, says, that he found not a living soul 
in districts where he had enjoyed hospitality thirty years before, the last inhabitant 
having been compelled to "get out of that" when the last tree fell 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 143 

Gentlemen, your duty is plain. Ignore this plain duty, and the historian of the 
future will write of Minnesota, as an eminent writer now writes of another region, 
using these words : _ "Many countries have, by the destruction of the forests, been 
deprived of rain, moisture, springs, and water courses, which are necessary to veg- 
etable growth. 

"In Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, and northern Africa, which, in an- 
cient times, were the granaries of Europe, fertile and populous, similar conse- 
quences have been experienced. These lands are now deserts, and it i» the dsstniction 
of the forests alone which has produced this desolation." 

On this point I could enlarge indefinitely. Evidence of this character, from the 
most eminent scientists of both hemispheres, can be piled up mountain high, illus- 
trating the absolute dependence of civilization upon forests. It is a question of not 
merely local, but of national importance. You are too well informed to need 
further argument. I trust I have not exceeded the bounds of propriety in merely 
calling your attention, in plain and unmistakable language, to the prompt perform- 
ance of an urgent duty. 

I could not do my duty by doing less. 

FENCING. 

I had fortified myself with a large amount of statistics on the destruction of 
forests, and the inevitable results. But time is passing, and it takes a better man 
than I am to entertain an intelligent audience over thirty minutes. I had also 
gathered some considerable information on the subject of fencing ; although some- 
what foreign, it is so intimately connected with forest culture as to really and fairly 
come within the scope of this discussion. I merely say that restraining cattle and 
horses from running at large would be a great encouragement to forest culture in 
Minnesota, and an immense relief to the agriculturist. 

The cost of fencing against cattle and horses is the heaviest burden the Minne- 
sota farmer carries. 

It costs the farmers of Minnesota more than two millions of dollars per annum 
to fence against horses and cattle ; enough to wipe out the old State railroad bonded 
indebtedness in short order, and leave something for tree planting. It occurs to 
me that the legislature should take such action as to relieve the farming community 
of this Herculean burden. The common law is clear on this point ; that owners of 
live stock must take care of them, or be held responsible for the damage they 
commit. 

An act of the legislature plainly interpreting the common law, and so spread- 
ing it on our statute books as to clearly define the rights, duties and responsibilities 
of all parties concerned, is loudly called for. 

It is also a well established principle of common law, that private interests must 
give way to public interests. On this principle are based the laws of eminent do- 
main. Under those laws the public can run a highway through the middle of your 
farm, and you can't help yourself. 

A railroad corporation can run its lines through your private, estate, condemn and 
appropriate to their own use such portions as their wants demand. They can even, 
and sometimes do, tear down your houses and barns, and you are powerless to pre- 
vent it. You are in the way of the public, you must get out of the way, for the 
public have the right of way over all intervening obstacles. I am no lawyer, but 
have not lived over fifty years without finding out thai "common law" is simply 
common sense boiled down. 

Let us apply this principle of common law, or common sense, to the question 
involved. Common sense revolts at the idea of the "tail wagging the dog." Yet, 
under the absurd statute laws of Minnesota, the tail of the dog swings the entire 
animal. 

Let us examine into facts bearing upon this question. Referring to the report of 
the Auditor of State for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1875, we find the total 
value of all the cattle, horses, mules and asses in Minnesota, to be $17,492,980. 

Referring to the latest statistics on crops, we find that they represent of crops 
that have to be fenced in from cattle and horses, not less than $40,000,000 annually 
in Minnesota, besides 20,000,000 young forest trees. 

Here we may place the fences necessary to protect the growing crop of $40,000,- 
000, at a valuation of $20,000,000. 

We thus observe that we invest $20,000,000 in fence, to protect $40,000,000 worth 
of crops from $17,492,980 worth of cattle and horses, or, in other words, we exhibit 
the ludicrous spectacle of a $17,000,000 tail wagging a $60,000,000 dog. 



144 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

. But there is a moral principle involved in this question which enters too lareelv 
into all Its phases to be ignored. Under the laws of eminent domaii, you split rav 
well fenced, cultivated farm, into two unequal sized, irregular shaped pieces The 
arbitrary award of damages rarely, if ever, makes me whole, but I am further out- 
raged by bemg compelled to erect a lawful fence each side of this public highway 
to protect my growing crops, my young orchard and my grove of young forest and 
ornamental trees from destruction from cattle and horses permitted by the statutes 
ot Minnesota to run at large in this christian country, in this enlightened centurv 
up to this centennial year. ^ ' 

Those cattle and horses are simply trespassers, I am their victim. Their own- 
ers have neirtier the right to allow them to run at large, or to compel me to build 
that legal fiction, known as a lawful fence. 

When I was a youngster, I followed surveying for a livelihood, and I well remem- 
ber the remark ot an old Quaker, who gave me one of my first jobs, in running and 
establishing his boundary lines ; it was this : "Good line fences are the foundation 
ot true religion." There is much truth in that remark, but a long experience com- 
pels me to believe that a general, sweeping herd law would promote true reli^rion 
more effectually than the labors of half the men who make the promotion of that 
cause a specialty. 

_ 1 feel safe in saying that by far the greatest amount of difficulty and bad feeling 
in every agricultural community is caused and kept in full force by keeping in force 
that relic of barbarism compelling the fencing in of crops. 

Any man who wants a new home will give those counties the preference who 
have had the good sense to adopt the herd law. Pass a general herd law, applicable 
to every section of the State, and you wipe out a relic of barbarism, promote Chris- 
tianity, encourage tree planting, encourage emigration, and increase and promote 
the general welfare. *^ 



PLANTS OB TEEES PER ACRE. 

Number of plants or trees on an acre, at various distances apart ; 
6 inches apart each way 154 240 

1 foot '» " *' '...'.'.'.' ". 4q''if?n 

i^|-t ;\ /' " :::::::::: I'i'eS 

2 feet by 1 foot 21780 

2 leet apart each way 10^90 

3 feet by 2 feet .■:.■::::::.■:::.■;:..■ 7,'26o 

6 leet apart each way 4 gia 

4 feet " " " n'non 

6 « .< .. « • 1.750 

8 .. u u u 1.200 

j^ :: :: :: :: :"•:•:::: SS 

18 " '• '. " :;::::::::::::::::::;:::::•:: S 

20 «' " '• - ::::::::*■•' n© 

22 '« " •' " ^z 

30 " " " " :::::::::::::::::::: 55 

Kows six feet apart, and trees one foot apart in the row, 7,315 trees per acre. 

Rows 8 feet apai-t, and one foot apart in the row, 5,434 t,rees per acre. 

Rows 10 feet apart, and one f«ot apart in the row, 4,3b9 per acre. 

One mile of wind breaks or shelter belt, requires 5,280 trees or cuttings for a sin- 
gle row, one foot apart in the row. 

The white willow cuttings can be bought for $1.50 per 1000. 

Cottonwood cuttings, for $2 50 per 1000. 

Well rooted yearling or seedling Cottonwood trees, ash, box-elder and soft manle 
for $3.00 to $5.00 per lOOO. ^ 

Scotch pine, 6 to 9 inches, $15.00 to $18.00 per 1000. 

European larch, 8 to 10 inches, $10,00 per 1000. 

Robert Douglaes & Son, Waukegan, Illinois, grow larch and evergreens more ex- 
tensively, perhaps, than any other party in America. Bend for their catalogue. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 145 



ADDKESS OF PROF. C. Y. LACY BEFORE THE STATE FORES- 
TRY ASSOCIATION, ON RELATIONS OF FORESTS 
TO WATER SUPPLY. 

Mt, Chairman and Gentlemen : 

"Plant trees" is the injunction we liear from almost every quarter of the 
civilized world. The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture now 
offers prizes for planting trees in a State in which the wanton destruction of 
forests has proceeded almost for centuries. 

The people of the United States, having thinned the forests of the Ap- 
palachian slopes, find beyond them a vast territory destitute of forests, ana 
offer to give it to those who will plant one-quarter of it to trees. 

The State of Iowa gives a certain exemption from taxation for the plant- 
ing of trees, and her Horticultural Society offers premiums for the encour- 
agement of the same work. 

The State of California offers premiums for the same purpose, and Ne- 
braska has its "Arbor Day." Minnesota has laws encouraging the same 
work in a similar manner, and a Forestry Association is devoting its ener- 
gies toward the same end. 

Editors and writers in agricultural papers, teachers and fruit growers, are 
constant in their appeals to plant forests and protect from waste those we 
now have. 

Our friend Hodges for years has pressed upon our attention the necessity 
of planting trees in Minnesota. 

Met on every side by these appeals, we ask, "What is the use of planting 
trees ?" Have forests anything to do with the moral, physical or pecuniary 
interests of men ? Do they mitigate or correct any evils ? Do they confer 
any benefits or exert any beneficial influence ? 

We may approach these questions by ascertaining the objections urged 
against certain sections of coimtry, by noting the unfavorable reports and the 
appeals that reach our ears from different parts of the inhabited world. 

Talk to the immigrant about settling in the prairie counties west of the 
Big Woods, and if he knows anything of that treeless region he will froba- 
bly object : 

(1) That the winds are too violent. 

(2) That there is no wood for fuel, and no material for fencing. 

(3) That the landscape is too dreary and monotonous — there are no trees 
to give it a home-like appearance ; it is too lonesome. 

(4) That it is too cold out there. 

(5) That you cannot raise fruit there. 

Talk to him of some places, and he will object : 

(6) That they are unhealthy. 
Reports come to us : 

(7) That the forests that now supply us with lumber for building and 
manufacturing purposes are fast melting away before the woodman's axe. 

(8) The reports of destructive insect invasions have not yet ceased to vi- 
brate in our ears. 

Every year we hear : 

(9) Of hail storms doing extensive injuries. 

10 



146 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

(10) Of floods and freshets carrying away bridges and dwellings, and de- 
stroying growing crops and human life. 

(11) Of the injurious effects of long continued drought. 

(12) Of the substitution of improved water wheels for those that formerly 
gave sufficient power; and finally, the complete substitution of steam for 
water power in mills and manufactories. 

Every year we listen to : 

(13) Appeals for the improvement of commercial water routes. 

All these objections, reports and appeals indicate imperfections that are 
commonly supposed to be without natural remedy ; but it is claimed for for- 
ests, and with good reason, too, that they are the natural remedy for some of 
these imperfections, and the natural means of relief in the case of others. 
It is claimed for forests that they — 

(1) Break the force and meet the fary of the winds, and thus afford shel- 
ter and protection to man and beast, 

(2) That they supply fuel and material for fencing. 

(3) That they give a home like character to the prairie that is otherwise 
dreaxy and monotonous. 

(4) That they mitigate the cold of winter and the heat of summer. 

(5) That they improve the conditions for fruit growing. 

(6) That they improve the sanitary character of some localities. 

(7) That they supply lumber for building and manufacturing purposes. 

(8) That they diminish insect injuries, and, 

(9) The injuries of hail storms. 

It is claimed that forests affect favorably the water supply of a region : 

(10) Diminish the destructive effects of freshets. 

(11) Diminish the injurious effects of drought. 

(12) Increase the flow of springs. 

(13) Equalize the quantity of water in our mill and navigable streams, 
and 

(14) Distribute the rainfall throughout the year. 

It has been abundantly shown, in this and other States, that trees can be 
grown, in large numbers or in small, on any soil that will produce ordinary 
farm crops. This is all that is required to establish several of the above 
claims. Every one has observed the capacity of trees : 

(1) To break the force of winds. 

(2) To supply fuel and material for fencing. 

(3) All who have traveled over the prairies know how welcome is the 
sight of a belt or group of trees, and how much more habitable and home 
like is a house surrounded with trees than one standing alone. 

(4) If forests break the force of winds, we are prepared to understand 
how they mitigate the cold, for we all know how much colder it seems in 
windy than in calm weather. Some of you have noticed the difference in 
passing from forest to open country. Firemen on railway trains observe 
that additional fuel is required to keep up steam on passing from wooded 
into prairie regions. 

(5) If forests break the force of winds and modify the cold of winter, they 
7ertaiuly improve the conditions for the growth of fruit. Horticulturists are 
pretty well agreed upon the value of a protecting forest, either natural or ar- 
tificial. 

(6) In a paper read before the American Public Health Association last 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. I47 

fall, Dr. Geo. L. Andrew reached, among other conclu.sions, the following : 
that "forests and tree belts are of undoubted value in preventing the dissem- 
ination of malaria ;" that "trees are of positive sanitary value in affording 
shelter from the excessive heat of the sun, from the violence of winds, and in 
promoting esthetic culture ;" that in some cases "extensive tree planting is 
not unaccompanied with evil." 

(7) To furnish lumber for building and manufacturing. 

(8) There is little doubt but that forests diminish insect injuries. Insects 
do not multiply so rapidly in and near the woods, for there the birds, the 
consumers of insects, build their nests and find protection. Marsh says : "It 
is only since the felling of the forests of Asia Mitior and Cyrene that the 
locust has become so fearfully destructive in those countries." It is pretty 
well established, too, that the native breeding places of our locust, are barren 
plains, and not forest covered regions. I think it has been found, too, that 
the locust plague is less severe in and near forests than on the open prairies. 
There is good evidence to the effect that (8) forests render hail storms less 
frequent and severe. Hail storms on the plains of Lombardy are believed 
to be more frequent than before the clearing of the forests on the Alps and 
Appenines, and in several other provinces of Europe, hail storms are believed 
to be more frequent and destructive since the clearing of the forests in their 
vicinity. 

■I fear I have presumed greatly on your patience in presenting this lengthy 
introduction before entering on the more lengthy discussion of the relation.? 
of forests to water supply. 

This topic embraces, fi.rst, the influence of forests on rainfall and evapo- 
ration, including the influence on droughts ; and second, the influence of for- 
ests on drainage, including the influence on springs, streams and lakes. 

One word as to the character of our knowledge on this subject. It is not 
absolutely perfect. It is not entirely beyond doubt or question. "We ob- 
serve certain facts in connection with certain other facts, but we are not pos- 
itive that one is the cause of the other. We observe springs ceasing to flow 
and streams diminishing, and this keeping steady pace with the destruction 
of the forests. We confidently believe the destruction of the forests causes 
the diminished water supply, but this result msLj possibly be caused by geo- 
logical changes in the crust of the earth. 

Hence the evidence I shall present you will consist in part of the convic- 
tions of men best qualified by their study of the subject to judge ; in part of 
observed facts which may possibly admit of question or of different explana- 
tions; and in part of experiments which appear to be, and probably are, 
correct and reliable ; and, we may add, the support of our knowledge relat- 
ing to the laws and conditions of rainfall and evaporation. 

In advance, I %vish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the volume entitled 
"Man and Nature," by Hon. Geo. F. Marsh, in which I find the fullest dis- 
cussion of this subject, and from which I have quoted copiously in the fol- 
lowing pages. 

THE RELATIO' OF FORESTS TO RAINFALL. 

Boussingault, a noted French authority on rural subjects, quotes another 
French writer who says "that at Malta rain has become so rare, since the 
woods were cleared to make room for the growth of cotton, that at the time 
of his visit in October, 1841, not a drop of rain had fallen for three years." 
Boussingault further says, "The terrible droughts which desolate the Cape 
Verd Islands, must also be attributed to the destruction of forests. In the 



148 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

island of St. Helena, where the wooden surface has considerably extended 
within a few years, it has been observed that the rain has increased in the 
same proportion. It is now in quantity double what it was during the resi- 
dence of Napoleon. In Egypt recent plantations have caused rains which 
hitherto were almost unknown." But in commenting on this testimony, 
Marsh says we have no evidence that Malta ever had any forests. In 1611 
there were few trees there but such as bear fruit. The other statements 
referred to, have not been questioned. 

Schacht, a German writer, draws the following reasonable conclusions 
from well known facts : "The forest, presenting a considerable surface for 
evaporation, gives to its own soil and to all the adjacent groun.d an abundant 
and enlivening dew. * * * This increased deposition of dew 

on the neighboring fields, is partly due to the forests themselves ; for the 
dense, saturated strata of air which hover over the woods, descend in cool, 
calm evenings, like clouds to the valley, and in the morning beads of dew 
sparkle on the leaves of the grass and the flowers of the field." 

Caultas, reasoning from established facts, thus concludes : "The ocean, 
winds and woods may be regarded as the several parts of a grand distillatory 
apparatus. The sea is the boiler in which vapor is raised by the solar heat, 
the winds are the guiding tubes which carry the vapor with them to the for- 
ests where a lower temperature prevails. This naturally condenses the va})or, 
and showers of rain are thus distilled from the cloud masses which float in 
the atmosphere, by the woods beneath them." This may sound like a pretty 
fancy, but concerning many of the facts there is not a particle of question. 
The sea, together with lakes, is the boiler from which arises the vapor which 
later forms the rain falling on our fields. The winds are the guiding tubes 
which carry this vapor and distribute ib over the earth. Reason and experi- 
ment both prove that in summer forests do make the air in and about them 
cooler than in the open country. And it is beyond question too, that this 
cooling influence is exactly what is wanted to cause the fall of rain. But the 
doubtful point is whether this influence of the forest is ever actually suffi- 
cient to cause a fall of rain that would not otherwise occur. 

Sir John F. W. Herschel enumerates, among "the influences unfavorable 
to rain, absence of vegetation in warm climates and especially of trees. This 
is, no doubt," continues he, "one of the causes of the extreme aridity of 
Spain. The hatred of a Spaniard toward a tree is proverbial. Many dis- 
tricts in France have been materially injured by denudation, and, on the 
other hand, rain has become more frequent in Egypt, since the more vigorous 
cultivation of the palm tree." 

Hohenstein remarks: "With respect to the temperature in the forest, I 
have already observed, that at certain times of the day and of the year, it is 
less than in the open field. Hence, the woods may, in the day time, in the 
summer and toward the close of winter, tend to increase the fall of rain; but 
it is otherwise in summer nights, and at the beginning of winter, when there 
is a higher temperature in the forest, which is not favorable to that effect. 

* * * * The wood is, further, like the mountain, a mechanical 
obstruction to the motion of rain clouds, and as it checks them in their 
course, it gives them occasion to deposit their water. These considerations 
render it probable that the forest increases the quantity of rain; but they do 
not establish the certainty of this conclusion." 

Barth, after describing the conditions of soil and atmosphere produced by 
forests, says : "Thus, a constant evaporation is produced, which keeps the 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. I49 

forest atmosphere moist, even in long droughts, when all other sources of 
humidity in the forest itself are dried up. * * * Little is re- 

quired to compel the stratum of air resting upon a wood to give up its moist- 
ure, which thus, as rain, fog or dew, is returned to the forest. * * * * 
The warm, moist currents of air, which come from other regions, are cooled 
as they approach the wood, by its less heated atmosphere, and obliged to let 
fall the humidity with which they are charged, ' * * * * In 
consequence of these relations of the forest to humidity, it follows that 
wooded districts have both more frequent and more abundant rain, and in 
general, are more humid than woodless regions; for what is true of the woods 
themselves in this respect, is true also of their treeless neighborhood. * * 

* * When the districts stripped of trees, have long been deprived of 
rain and dew, * * * * and the grass and the fruits of the 
field are ready to wither, the grounds which are surrounded by woods are 
green and flourishing." This, you will observe, is a purely theoretical con- 
clusion. 

Asbjornsen, who, like the last, is a Scandinavian writer, says : "The nar- 
ratives of travelers show the deplorable consequences of felling the woods in 
the Island of Trinidad, Martinique, San Domingo, and indeed, in almost 
the entire West Indian group. * * * * j^ Palestine, and 
many other parts of A^ia and northern Africa, which, in ancient times were 
the granaries of Europe, fertile and populous, similar consequences have been 
experienced. These lands are now deserts, and it is the destruction of the 
forests alone which has produced this desolation. * * * * 
In southern France many districts have, from the same cause, become barren 
wastes of stone, and the cultivation of the vine and the olive has suffered 
severely since the baring of the neighboring mountains. Since the extensive 
clearings between the Spree and the Odor, the inhabitants complain that the 
clover crop is much less productive than before. Oa the other hand, exam- 
ples of the beneficial influence of planting and restoring the woods are not 
wanting. In Scotland, where many miles square have been planted with 
trees, the effect has been manifest, and similar observations have been made 
in several places in southern France. In Lower Egypt, both at Cairo and 
near Alexandria, rain rarely fell in considerable quantity — for example, dur- 
ing the French occupation of Egypt, about 1798, it did not rain for sixteen 
months; but since Mehemet Ali and Abrahim Pacha executed their vast 
plantations, * * * there now falls a good deal of rain, especially along 
the coast, in the months of November, December and January, and even at 
Cairo, it rains both oftener and more abundantly; so that real showei's are 
no variety," 

Babinet, a French writer, says : ' "The forests of the Vasges and Ardennes 
produce the same effect, (increased rain-fall), in the northeast of France, and 
send us a great river, the Meuse, which is as remarkable for its volume as for 
the small extent of its basin." Babinet repeats the suggestion of Mignet, 
"that to produce a rain, a forest was as good as a mountain," and he adds, 
"this is literally true." 

Another French writer says : . "For it is established that in wooded coun- 
tries it rains oftener, and that the quantity of the rain b -ing equal, they are 
more humid." 

Boussingault, who is an authority in agricultural science, thus sums up : — 
"Arguing from the meteorological facts collected in the agricultural regions, 
tiiere is reason to presume that clearings diminish the annual fall of rain." 



150 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

And again, he says : "In my judgment it is settled, that very large clear- 
ings must diminish the annual fall of rain in a country." 

Marsh also gives us the other side of the story. He says : "On the other 
hand,Faissac expresses the opinion that forests have no influence on precipi- 
tation, beyond that of promoting the deposit of dew in their vicinity, and he 
states as a fact of experience, that the planting of large vegetables, and espec- 
ially of trees, is a very efficient means of drying morasses, because the plants 
draw from the earth a quantity of water larger than the average annual fall 
of rain." 

Kloden, * * * * denied "that the diminution of volume 
(in the Oder and Elbe), is to be ascribed to a decrease of precipitation in 
consequence of the felling of the forests, and states what other physicists con- 
firm, that during the same period, (since 1878), meteorological records in. 
various parts of Europe show rather an augmentation than reduction of 
rain." 

Marsh also gives the observations of Belgrond, which "tend to show, con- 
trary to general opinion, that less rain falls in wooded than denuded districts. 
Observations were made at stations about eight miles apart in two valleys, 
believed to be alike in all respects, except that one was entirely bare, the 
other well wooded. The rain fall was as follows : 

* Min. 

For three cold months, in the cleared valley 179.7 

" " " " " wooded " 104^ 

" five warm " " cleared " 158.6|- 

". " " " " wooded " 149.6 

Marsh says : "This result is so contrary to what has been generally 
accepted as a theoretical conclusion, that further experiment is required to 
determine the question." He thus sums up the whole subject of forest influ- 
ence on rain-fall : "The eflect of the forest then is not entirely free from 
doubt, and we cannot positively affirm, that the total annual quantity of rain 
is diminished or increased by the destruction of the woods, though both 
theoretical considerations and the balance of testimony strongly favor the 
opinion, that more rain falls in wooded than in open countries. One impor- 
tant conclusion, at least, upon the meteorological influence of forests, is cer- 
tain and undisputed; the proposition, namely, that within their own limits, 
and near their own borders, they maintain a more uniform degree of humidity 
in the atmosphere than is observed in the cleared grounds. Scarcely less can 
it be questioned, that they promote the frequency of showers, and, if they do 
not augment the amount of precipitation, they equalize its distribution 
through the difl"erent seasons." 

From other sources, we gather some evidence. Prof. Mathiews, of the 
School of Forestry, near Nancy, in France, has given the results of some 
experiments, which have been translated by Hon. W. C. Flagg, of Illinois. 
For nearly three years the rainfall was measured at two stations, about 12 
miles apart, the altitude and all other conditions, so far as known, being the 
same, save that one was in the midst of a forest plateau, and the other in 
the midst of a farming region. The rainfall was as follows : 

Last 8 months, 1866, forest plateau, 27.25|^ in., farming region, 23.25^ 
Whole year, 1867, " " 36.44} " " " 34.93 

" " 1868, " " 29.48^ " " " 24.25 

A consecutive difference in favor of the forest plateau of 4 inches, 2|- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. I5I 

inches, and 4^ inclies. A difference that would be considered conclusive 
proof by any one that is acquainted with experiments of this nature. But, 
you remember we did not accept as final the experiment giving a contrary 
result. So with this, we must regard it simply as one link in the chain of 
evidence, albeit, a strong one. 

Careful and thoughtful observers in this country are almost unanimous in 
the belief that forests tend to a better distribution of the rainfall, if they do 
not actually augment it. Prof. Riley, a few years since, in a horticultural 
convention, expressed a doubt about the influence of fore sts on rainfall, and 
could find no one to agree with him. 

Speaking of records of rainfall, which he had prepared, Prof. H. B. 
Hough says : Although they reveal great irregularities in a series of years, 
at any given locality, they do not justify us in supposing that, in the general 
average of periods, the amount is sensibly increasing or diminishing, although 
they do show, in some cases, greater tendencies to drouth for, a series of 
years together, and often a more unequal distribution of rain throughout the 
year. This growing tendency to droughts and floods can be directly ascribed 
to the clearing up of woodlands, by which the rains quickly find their way 
into the streams, often swelling them into destructive floods, instead of 
sinking into the earth to reappear as springs." 

The report of a congress of land and forest cultivators, held in Vienna, 
after naming many cases of the influence of forests on rainfall already men- 
tioned in this paper, describes and mentions the following : •' Ismalia, itpon 
the Suez canal, was built upon a sandy desert ; but since the ground has 
been saturated with water, trees, bushes and plants have grown, and with 
the appearance of vegetation, the climate has changed." Four or five years 
ago, says the report, rain was unknown in these regions ; but in the year, 
from May, 1868, to May, 1869, there were fourteen days of rain. So, also, 
near Trieste, a finely wooded district, was destroyed by the Venetians, and 
twenty -five years ago rain had ceased to fall ; but to save the country from 
total abandonment, the Atistrian government planted several millions of 
olive trees. It is stated, also, that the conversion of the desert of Utah into 
a blooming country, has raised the Salt Lake seven feet above its old level. 
The volume of water in the Ohio is stated to be evidently diminishing. The 
same is true of the Hudson, upon which the extent of navigable water is 
yearly receding. "I would ask you, can it be successfully denied that the 
same thing is true of the Mississippi, and other streams of the State ? And 
if not, is there any better reason for it than the destruction of the trees at 
their rise, and along their courses ?" Thus, it seems to me, is the influence 
of forests on evaporation. 

Every one knows that of the water falling as rain, a part sinks into the 
soil' and a part dries away. What is the influence of forests on the latter 
part ? Trees themselves draw from the soil, through their roots, large quan- 
tities of water and" exhale it in the form of vapor from their leaves. For 
large trees the quantity exhaled is estimated at one, two and even three 
barrels daily when in full growth. On the other hand, the shade of the 
branches and foliage, and the coating of dead leaves on the surface of the 
ground, by intercepting the rays of the sun and keeping the ground cool, 
retard very greatly direct evaporation from the soil itself. Prof. Mathiew 
carried his experiments to this point, and he found that the evaporation ia 
the open field was four or five times as much as from the forest. The same 
conditions, too, that retard evaporation, favor the absorption and condensa- 
tion of vapor from the air. But the retention and acquisition of moisture 



152 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

by the soil, appears to be in excess of the loss by evaporation from tbe soil 
and by exhalation of the leaves combined, for the soil of the forest itself 
does not show the effects of drouth until long after cleared lands are dry and 
parched. Forests certainly diminish evaporation from adjacent cleared lands. 
The roots of forest trees pump no water from these grounds, and the trees 
diminish direct evaporation because they break the force of the winds, and 
the drying power of wind, air in motion above that of air at rest, is well known. 
Thus at one end there is strong reason for believing that forests increase the 
fall of rain, while at the other end, they certainly diminish the loss of water 
by evaporation. Such being the case, forests must diminish the severity of 
drouth. 

It remains to note the influence of forests on drainage — their effect on 
springs and lakes and streams and floods. The files of American agricul- 
tural iournals contain many instances of springs diminishing or ceasing in 
their flow with the disappearance of surrounding or adjacent forests, but so 
far as I know, these cases have never been gathered into a single volume, so 
that I am again obliged to borrow European examples from Marsh's Man and 
Nature. He says : As the forests are destroyed, the springs which flowed 
from the woods, and consequently the greater water course fed by them, di- 
minish both in number and in volume. This fact is so familiar through the 
American States and British Provinces, that there are few old residents of 
the interior of those districts who are not able to testify to its truth as a 
matter of personal observation. My own recollection suggests to me several 
instances of this sort, and I remember one case where a small mountain 
spring, which disappeared soon after the clearing of the ground where it 
rose, was recovered about ten or twelve years ago, by simply allowing the 
bushes and young trees to grow up on a rocky knoll, not more than half an 
acre in extent, immediately above it, and has since continued to flow unin- 
terruptedly. The uplands in the Atlantic States formerly abounded in 
sources and rills, but in many parts of those States which have been cleared 
for above a generation or two, the hill pastures now suffer severely from 
drouth, and in dry seasons no longer afford either water or herbage for cattle." 

Clane gives an example in the forest of Mendon, near Paris, and isays : 
"After a few rainy days pass along the Chevreuse road, which is bordered on 
the right by the wood, on the left by cultivated fields. The fall of water 
and the continuance of the rain have been the same on both sides ; but the 
ditch on the side of the forest will remain filled with water proceeding from 
the infiltration through the wooded soil, long after the other, contiguous to 
the open ground, has performed its office of drainage and become dry. The 
ditch on the left will have discharged in a few hours a quantity of water, 
which the ditch on the right requires several days to receive and carry down 
to the valley," 

Another case: "before the felling of the woods, within the last few years, 
* * * the same furnished a regular and sufficient supply of water for the 
iron works of Unterwyl, which was almost unaffected by drought or by heavy 
rains. The same has now become a torrent ; every shower occasions a flood, 
and after a few days of fine weather, the current falls so low that it has been 
necessary to change the water wheels, because those of the old construction 
are no longer able to drive the machinery, and at last to introduce a steam 
engine to prevent the stoppage of the works for the want of water." 

Another case. "When the factory of St, Ursaune was established, the 
river that furnished its power was abundant, long known and tried, and had 
from time immemorial sufficed for tbe machinery of a previous factory. Af- 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL I 53 

terwards the woods near its source were cut. Th? supply of water fell off 
in consequence, the factory wanted water for half the year, and at last was 
obliged to stop altogether." 

"The Wolf Spring furnishes a remarkable example of the influence of the 
woods upon fountains. A few years ago this spring did not exist. At the 
place where it now rises, a small thread of water was observed after very 
long rains, but the stream disappeared with the rain. The spot is in the 
middle of a very steep pasture inclining to the south. Eighty years ago the 
owner of the land, perceiving that young firs were shooting up in the upper 
part of it, determined to let them grow, and they soon formed a flourishing 
grove. As soon as they were well grown, a fine spring appeared in place of 
the occasional rill, and furnished abundant water in the longest droughts. 
For forty or fifty years this spring was considered the best in the Clos du 
Doubs. A few years since the grove was felled, and the ground turned again 
to a pasture. The spring disappeared with the wood, and is now as dry as 
it was ninety years ago." 

Marsh quotes another case in which the forest is felled in regular succes- 
sion once in twenty years. "As the annual cuttings approach a certain point, 
the springs yield less water, some of them none at all ; but as the young 
growth shoots up, they flow more and more freely, and at length bubble up 
again in all their original abundance." 

Marsh also quotes from Der. Pifer the following American example : 
"Within about half a mile of my residence there is a pond upon which mills 
have been standing for a long time, dating back, I believe, to the first settle- 
ment of the town. These have been kept in constant operation until within 
some twenljy or thirty years, when the supply of water began to fail. The 
pond owes its existence to a stream which has its source in the hills which 
stretch some miles to the south. Within the time mentioned these hills, 
which were clothed with a dense forest, have been almost entirely stripped 
of trees ; and to the wonder and loss of the mill owners, the water in the 
pond has failed, except in the season of freshets ; and what was never heard 
of before, the stream itself has been entirely dry. Within the last ten 
years .a new growth of wood has sprung up on most of the land formerly 
occupied by the old forest; and now the water runs through the year, not- 
withstanding the great droughts of the last few years." 

A letter from Wm. C. Bryant, the poet and editor, is also quoted: "It 
is a common observation that our summers are become drier and our streams 
smaller. Take the Cuyahoga as an illustration. Fifty years ago, large 
barges loaded with goods went up and down the river, and one of the ves- 
sels engaged in the battle of Lake Erie, in which the gallant Perry was vic- 
torious, was built at Old Portage, six miles north of Albion, and floated 
down to the lake. Now in an ordinary stage of water, a canoe or skiff can 
hardly pass down the stream. Many a boat of fifty tons burden has been 
built and loaded in the Tuscarawas, at New Portage, and sailed to New Or- 
leans without breaking bulk. Now the river hardly affords a supply of 
water, at New Portage, for the canal. The same may be said of other 
streams — they are drying up. And from the same cause, the destruction of 
our forests, our summers are growing drier, and our winters colder." 

Other cases might be added, but it is unnecessary. Those given are in ac- 
cordance with reason. The soil of forests is nearly always more open and 
porous than that of cleared land. So that rain, instead of flowing off as it 
falls, sinks into the soil to reappear gradually in the springs that feed the 



154 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

rivulets and irrigate the meadows. Besides, tlie porosity of the soil, the 
surface is covered with leaves and twigs and roots, which impede the flow of 
water over the surface and cause it to sink away into the soil. Snow falling 
in the woods does not melt away so suddenly as on cleared land, and the 
water from it reaches the streams later than that from the cleared lands, 
thus diminishing the height, but prolonging the period of high water. 

And now, in conclusion, I would ask : In view of the opinions of those 
well qualified to judge, and in view of the facts cited, can it be doubted that 
the unsparing destruction of forests is attended with disastrous results? In 
view of the same, and of other facts stated in this paper, can it be doubted 
that the planting of forests, in treeless regions, especially, will be attended 
with equally good results ? Can it be doubted that extensive tree planting 
will improve the distribution of, if not actually augment the annual rainfall? 
Can it be doubted that it will diminish the devastation of freshets, and 
shorten the duration of droughts ? Can it be doubted that it will maintain 
the number and volume of our springs, equalize the supply of water in our 
lakes and streams, and thus preserve navigation in our inland streams, and 
power for our mills and manufactories ? I have tried to put you in posses- 
sion of the facts, gentlemen; I leave it to your judgments to answer these 
questions. 



AID TO GRASSHOPPEE SUFFERERS. 



What the Minnesota State Forestry Association Did in 1877. 

The spring of 1877 opened inauspiciously for the tree planters of Min- 
nesota. Those on the great prairies had been harrassed by grasshoppers, 
machine agents and creditors, "till they couldn't rest." 

Discouraged and disheartened by repeated losses and failures, many 
who had in good faith entered timber claims, were on the point of aband- 
oning them from sheer inability to purchase the much needed trees and 
cuttings for immediate planting. 

I was overwhelmed with letters from such parties asking for aid. Call- 
ing the executive committee of the Association together, they appropri- 
ated a small amount for the pnrchase and distribution of trees and cut-- 
tings to the most unfortunate of applicants. 

I immediately addressed a circular letter to all the county commission- 
ers of the treeless counties, asking them to forward the names of worthy 
parties, who having in good faith entered timber claims and by reason of 
grasshopper damages were unable to plant, and were I hereby in imminent 
danger of losing their claims — to forward the names of such only as 
would, if aided, so apply the aid as to carry out the provisions of the 
timber culture act, and thereby save their claims. 

In response thereto several hundred names were forwarded to me by the 
commissioners. 

Of these one hundred and seventy-three applicants were aided to an 
extent sufficient to save their tree claims. 

Three hundred and thirty-eight thousand (338,000) white willow and 
Cottonwood cuttings, and one hundred and eighty thousand (180,000) ash 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 55 

and Cottonwood trees, were thus distributed, and one hundred and seven- 
ty-three good men relieved and encouraged to prosecute their good work 
at the expense of the State of $534.12. 

The timber for the 338,000 cuttings, and 120,000 of these trees, were 
generously donated to the Association by the St, Paul & Pacific Railroad 
Company. 

In the spring of 1878, the Association offered $1800.00 in premiums to 
be distributed in accordance with the rules and regulations as published 
in compliance with the law granting the appropriation. 

The tree planters competing therefor generally ignored the prescribed 
rules and regulations, and of the $1,800.00 so offered, but $135.00 was 
awarded. 

With this experience before them, the executive committee have not 
up to this writing made up a premium list for 1879. 

The cost of preparation, publication and distribution of this pamphlet 
>vill probably be of as much service to forest culture in Minnesota, as the 
same amount would be if distributed in premiums. 

I have for many years collected and carefully preserved thousands of 
items bearing on forestry; and from this varied mass have selected such 
as seemed to me practical and reliable. I could have more easily em- 
bodied twice as much. The great difficulty has been to throw overboard 
much that was worthy of preservation, but which we could possibly do 
without. 

In these pages will be found sufficient information to enable anyone of 
average ability to grow his own fuel, shelter and shade. 

I have aimed to give just the information called for in the thousands of 
letters I have received on this subject, and can only say to enquirers, 
study this little work thoroughly and you will find therein a substantial 
answer to all reasonable interrogatories. 

In conclusion, I wish to so far as possible, make amends for the whole- 
sale raid I have hereby made in pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. 
I acknowledge to having plundered every available source of informa- 
tion for what I was after, and now having obtained it and spread it among 
the people, plead ^ro bono publico as my excuse. If I have done wrong I am 
willing to be forgiven. This work has been rushed through at railroad 
speed, in hurried moments snatched from pressing ^uties. I have pur- 
sued it con amore, and hereby dedicate it to the great army of tree planters 
in Minnesota, with the single word PERSEVERANCE. 

Saint Paul, Minnesota, March 19th, 1879. 



SYSTEM OF TIMBER CULTURE. 

BY JOHN K. KEPNER. 

As the time for tree planting will soon be here again, I would like to offer a few 
suggestions, bearing on the importance of pursuing the work, in a way which shall 
give the best results in the future. Anything which I may have to say, however, 
is not intended to influence those who have already prepared ground for the present 
season's operations; but for those who have not j^et determined on any line of action, 
and for those who are about to break ground for the first time, and especinllij for 
those who are somewhat uncertain as to the best way of beginning, and would gladly 
take the experience of others as a guide, to these last I would most especially 
address myself, assuring them that the arguments here put forth are based on the 
experience and observation of nearly twenty years in Minnesota. 

It will be desirable to plant somewhat systematically, notwithstanding the objec- 



156 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 



tionable feature of monotony urged by some, though, in fact, this is no objection at 
all, as the buildings and their immediate surroundings will give character to the 
landscape. 

And among the objections to indiscriminate planting is this wry important one. 
That a group or belt in the wrong place will cause the snow to drift and block up 
the road, while judicious planting will keep the same clear, and at the same time 
answer all the purposes of a wind-break. Suppose, for instance, that a farmer plant 
a close row or two or more of leaf -shedding trees, on the north or west side of the 
highway. Those who have for a few winters lived on these prairies of the North- 
west, know very well that the highway so planted, will be blocked with snow, and 
will probably be impassable the entire winter 1 How then, are we to prevent this ? 
Let us plant our forest belt on the north and west bouudaries of the farm ; and on 
the south and east a single row of trees, eight or ten feet apart, to support the wires 
for our future fence. In this way we get all the advantages possible from forest 
planting, (see diagram). In the first place, if we have a tree claim, we have com- 



Single Line of Trees. 



FARM. 



Single Line of Trees. 




SOUTH. 
The above may be a farm of any size, from forty acres to one thousand acres — 
the principle is the same. 



plied with the requirements of the law; we have considerably ameliorated the rigor 
of the climate; we have our timber lot easy of access, as it is on the highway; we 
have a row of trees for live posts, and for ornament, which will never cause the 
snow to drift; and we have the south and east sides of the farm open to the public 
view, so that we can see and be seen by the traveling public. And in addition to 
this, we can also nse the outer or inner row of our forest belt to support wires for 
fencing; thus having a living row of fence posts around the entire farm, which will 
not need renewing in our daj'' and generation. Then across the way, we have the 
benefit of our neighbor's forest belt, to protect us from the south and east winds, 
which hardly over cause the snow to drift, as it has been observed that nearly all 
our blizzards come from the north and west ; and further, we have a highway so 
plainly defined, that the wayfaring man need not get lost in the storm; and also, 
this mode of planting leaves the farm in one field, which can be subdivided lo suit 
our taste or convenience. 
Along two sides of a quarter section (320 rods), twenty one rows four feet apart, 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 157 

trees four feet in the row, will require about 27,000 trees, and will fully cover the 
ten acres necessary to acquire a title to the land. And besides this, we have here a 
nursery, that if we have done our duty, in the first place, the necessary thinning of 
which, from year to year, for the first five or six years at least, will supply materials 
for our future plantations. Of course, I am not talking to holders of tree claims 
only; but to every possessor of treeless lands, who should plant more or less, as soon 
as possible; and as time brings means and leisure, additional rows of the more valu- 
able sorts can be added. Of course, if there is a spot on the farm unfit for gene- 
ral cultivation, that, too, can be planted with trees of some sort. 

The shelter for the buildings will require additional planting. I would choose, 
if possible, a southern or eastern exposure; but I would not build on low or wet 
ground, if I could avoid it. I would have perfect drainage, for the sake of health, 
if I were obliged to build on the west, or even on the north side of the farm to 
obtain it. 

For the purposes of garden, orchard, lawn and house, and for barn and stack and 
stock yards, ten acres would be enough for a small farm; for a larger one more 
ground can be spared for these purposes. And in these plantings, I would follow 
the same general arrangement suggested for the other plantations, that is : to plant 
heavily on the north and west, and lightly on the south and east; and here I would 
use evergreens, if I could get them, but of course, if I could not get these, I would 
use the best obtainable. 

Respectfully, 

JNO. K. KEPNER. 

March 31, 1880. 



THE U. S. LAND LAWS. 



Vhat the Settler is Mequired to. do to Acquire Land Under the Homestead^ 
Pre-emption^ and Timber Culture Acts — A Clear and Succinct State- 
ment of the JProvisions of the Three Several Land Laws^ Under 
Either of Which Land may be Acquired. 



THE HOMESTEAD ACT. 

Ths applicant must be a citizen of the United States, or must take out his first 
papers declaring his intention to become a citizen. He must be twenty-one years 
old, or the head of a family. He may enter 160 acres, or any subdivision thereof. 
The land office fee is $18, if the land is within the railroad limit, or $14 if without 
that limit. The applicant is required, within six months from the day of filing, to 
have a house built and his family moved on to the claim. His residence must be a 
continual one for five years. He is not, however, required to live on it day and 
night continuously ; but he must not be absent more than six months at any one 
time. A longer absence will forfeit the claim. At the expiration of five years' 
residence, he submits his proof that he has lived on the land and cultivated it. He 
then gets his patent (deed) from the president of the United States. Any contract 
to convey a portion or the whole of his claim before making final proof destroys 
his rights. An abandonment of claim or a change of residence works a forfeiture. 
An unmarried woman may take a claim, and, if she marries, a continued residence 
on the land will give her title in her own name. Any time after six months of ac- 
tual residence, the occupant may make final proof and pay for his land at the rate 
of $2.50 per acre, if within railroad limits, or $1.25 if without. This does not affect 
in any way his rights as a pre-emptor. A homestead cannot be taken for past debts. 

A soldier who served in the war of the rebellion on the Union side, has a right to 
take a lien on 160 acres for six months upon the payment of 82. This may be done 
through an attorney in fact. Evidence of the military .service of the applicant 
must be submitted at the same time. The soldier is given a year from the date of 
filing his lien to build his house in and move on to his claim Every year of serv- 
ice in the army, not exceeding four, is deducted from the five. He' must live at 
least one year on the homestead, whatever the length of his military service. 



158 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

THE PRE-EMPTION ACT. 

The applicant for a pre-emption must possess the same qualifications as the home- 
stead setiler. The pre-emptor can take 160 acres, or any surveyed subdivision 
thereof. Within ninety days after making his settlement, he must file at the local 
land office a notice, giving the boundaries of his claim according to the government 
survey, and the date of his settlement or first improvements. For this filing he 
must pay $2. It may be a plain statement of the facts written by himself and sent 
in by mail. Within thirty-three months from the date of his settlement the claim- 
ant must submit his final proof. He must show both a residence and cultivation of 
the land for agricultural purposes — a habitable dwelling, and an amount of other 
improvements, like plowing, stable, well, etc. — that will be satisfactory to the land 
oflicers, and evidence of a compliance with the spirit of the law. There is no defi- 
nite valuation, as a minimum, prescribed by the law. The financial circumstances 
of llie pre-emptor, the area claimed and the quality and general character of the 
land are considered in determining the sufficiency of the improvements. The time 
of settlement and actual residence are strictly inquired into. After six months of 
actual residence, the pre-emptor may submit his final proof of the requisite im- 
provements. He must appear in person at the land office and give his testimony, 
and produce two creditable witnesses who will swear to the same facts. If the 
witnesses live at a distance and their presence would be both expensive and incon- 
venient, their affidavits may be taken before any officer qualified to administer an 
oath under the Territorial laws. Upon making his final proof; the pre-emptor may 
pay in cash, military land warrants, supreme court or Louisiana scrip. Within the 
laiid grant limit of any railroad the pre-emptor pays $2.50 per acre or $400 for his 
160 acres. If outside of that limit he pays $1.25 per acre, or $200. Any time before 
the thirty-three months expires the claimant may convert his claim into a home- 
stead by making application at the land office and paying the homestead fee. No 
person who quits or abandons his residence on his own land to reside on public 
land in the same State or Territory, or who owns 320 acres of land anywhere, is en- 
titled to the benefits of the pre-emption law. These disabilities, however, do not 
apply to the homestead or timber culture act. The privileges of all of these acts 
cannot be duplicated or repeated. Claims before the perfection of title are not 
transferable. 

THE TIMBER CULTURE ACT. 

The land office fee under this act upon making an entry, is $14. The applicant 
is entitled to enter 160 on any section naturally devoid of timber. It must be the 
whole section that is barren of timber and not the 160 alone. Only one tree claim 
Can be taken on a section. It takes eight years under this act to acquire title, but 
actual residence is not one of the requisites in getting it. The first year the claim- 
ant bi eaks five acres. The second year he cultivates that five to crop and breaks 
five more. The third year he plants the first five acres in trees and cultivates the 
second five to crop. The fourth year he plants the second five in trees, and then 
has ten acres of trees. He keeps the trees growing so that he can show on the day 
of riiial proof, 6,750 live trees. There is a small fee on making final proof, but no 
other expense in securing title. 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

An unmarried woman of age can take advantage of the benefits of these acts the 
same as a man. If she marries before she has acquired title, she can proceed to 
prove up at the proper time the same as if she had remained single. In case of the 
death of the claimant before the title is perfected, his heirs or administrators may 
sulimit final proof, after the heirs had completed the requirements of the law. Set- 
tlers can avail themselves of the privileges of these laws but once. Claims are not 
tnnisfeiable before the title there is acquired. A qualified applicant may take a 
preemption and a tree-culture at the same time, or a homestead and a tree culture 
at the sime time. As soon as he has proved up on his pre-emption, for instance, 
he can take a homestead and in that way can get possession of 480 acres within a 
yeiir of fiist settlement. All the sons and daughters of age can avail themselves of 
the benefits of the land laws. 

A QUERY ANSWERED. 

The answer to the following will be found in the above abstract of the provisions 
of the homestead act : 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 1 59 

"Can a single man be away from his homestead one week or two weeks, and hold 
his claim providing he sleeps on it once in the week ? 

"They say a man is compelled to live steady on his homestead day and night. 

"I am on my place every Saturday night till Sunday evening. Can I hold my claim 
without any danger of losing it by doing so ? 

J. K." 

You need not be alarmed about losing your claim unless you are absent from it 
more than six months at any one time, provided you have a home on it and culti- 
vate some of it. 



TREE PLANTING. 



A.nnual Address Before the Minnesota State Forestry Association, at the 
Capitol, Tdssday, J'anvb%ry Vith, 1880, hy IT. S. Ilollister, St. Paul. 

The magnitude of the subject alone would make the study of forestry in 
America a grand one, dealing as it does with the vast areas of treeless 
plains as the basis of operations. 

We are interested in forestry, not for its grandeur, but for its practical 
utility as affecting the comfort and value of thousands of human homes on 
our western frontier. We are interested in it because it adds to the 
attractiveness of the country, because it equalizes the destribution of the 
rainfall, and thus adds to the productiveness of our farms, because it 
affords shelter for man and beast, and fuel and- building material for the 
dwellings of men — because it adds to the money value of our farms; and 
from being a source of income to the farmer and adding to his thrift — it 
sends a pulsation of prosperity through all channels of trade from the Red 
River of the North to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Men who could understand this — men of wisdom and public spirit — 
established the Minnesota State Forestry Association ; and like kindred 
orders in other States, it has received but little of the public support its 
importance deserves. 

THE PEOPLE OF ST. PAUL 

alone ought to crowd this room at your annual meetings; and they could 
well afford to give it the financial support to place its teachings before 
the people of the Northwest. Every step toward making the prairies 
more inhabitable, turns the tide of immigration toward our State. Every 
carload of immigrants puts money into our pockets, directly 'by the pur- 
chase of wares they need, and indirectly by developing the crude resources 
of our untamed lands. Traders in every commodity, manufacturers, arti- 
sans, laborers, all receive new life from immigration, and it is the work of 
this association to aid this by demonstrating that our prairies can be 
made gardens of agriculture. 

The great attractive feature of the prairie country — the one feature 
that makes it the most inviting to the husbandman — is at the same time 
its most repulsive feature, and that is its treeless condition. 

The deep, rich soil of our western prairies, without tree or shrub to 
vex the plow, seem a very paradise for the agriculturalist, and but for 
their treeless aspect might well be heralded as 



l60 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

THE GARDEN OF THE WORLD. 

Why do these prairies exist ? Their treeless condition has been attrib- 
uted to many causes. 

The tough, wiry sod, making it impossible for young trees to get a start, 
has been given as one reason: but the sod was not there when forests were 
in their infancy. 

Alkali, says another. But we answer that all prairies are not alkali 
lands. . 

Too loose and friable alluvium for the growth of trees, says another. 
But we find some of our grandest forests growing on the river bottoms, 
deeper, richer, purer alluvium than is found on any upland prairie. 

Too dry, says a fourth. But away on the Rocky mountains, resting on 
the rock, sending little fibrous roots into the crevices for nourishment, we 
find grand old trees. 

Another claims that in the beginning of the epoch of vegetation the 
soil was too wet for the growth of trees; and yet we fiad the American 
larch growing in the water, and oaks, cedars, sycamores and a host of 
others growing out in river beds, their roots forming arches of support, 
lifting their trunks from the water. 

THE FIRE THEORY 

was for a long time the accepted one; but why did not the forests burn 
off when the trees were yet in their infancy and rank grass had almost 
undisputed possession of the soil ? — for it is a positive geological fact that 
the herb preceded the tree. 

You may say that the difference in texture or the constituent elements 
between prairie and timber land must have something to do with the 
growth or absence of forests. 

Not at all. It is the influence of the trees, their shade, and retention 
of moisture, the leaves and twigs that for centuries have fallen and de- 
cayed, that makes the difference in the soil. 

Go out on the prairie, plant trees closely, and at the end of the very 
short period of ten years put your spade into the soil in that grove and 
you will find a vast change in its texture and appearance. 

We must conclude that the prairies are not the result of unfavorable 
conditions of soil or of 

CLIMATIC INFLUENCE. * 

We may speculate on the origin of the prairies— goback in imagination 
to the time of the subsidence of the waters — and that an epoch of forests 
preceded the waters of the glacial period, that the mountains were cov- 
ered with trees that the waters did not reach, and from these groves on 
the mountains, as the water subsided, gradually extending until large areas 
were covered with yet spreading forests. No matter, it is sufficient for 
us to know that whatever reason we may give for the presence of the 
prairies and the absence of the forests, not one of them can be substan- 
tiated that points to the theory that prairies exist because trees will not 
grow on them. And this brings us directly to the practical part of our 
subject, and the only excuse for offering here a simple, practical essay 
upon the subject of tree planting, is the lamentable ignorance upon nearly 
every detail of the great plan of covering our prairies with forests, on 
the part of those who are setting out in the undertaking. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. l6l 

They read the law relating to tree claims,, and as soon as they under- 
stand that, they think they are fully fledged horticulturalists, and go to 
work most unsystematically and ignorantly, lose their tree claim and 
condemn a law that won't grow trees. 

I have a letter now, written this month, ordering soft maple seed to he 
Bent immediately, as the writer wants to get it well frozen before plant- 
ing time in the spring. 

Another in December wanted elm seedf. Still another writes that he 
intends to break five acres as a tree claim early in the spring, and wants 
to know how much seed of pine and spruce it will require to seed his five 
acres of newly broken sod. Away out in Dakota they are asking for 
sweet chestnut, horse chestnut, buckeye and catalpa seedlings, and if they 
can get them will plant largely, without stopping to ask if these trees 
will 

ENDURE OUR WINTERS. 

Having decided to plant trees, the first step must be the preparation of 
the soil. I do not claim that you cannot grow trees by planting in newly 
broken sod land, but I do say most emphatically, don't do it; as you can 
better afford to wait a year or two until your land is in good condition 
from cropping. 

As a rule, reduce your land to a seed bed fit to plant corn before plant- 
ing trees in it. Practical planters complain that they lose a great many 
trees from drying of the roots after planting, or in other words, from the 
effect of the summer drouth. 

The reason is plain : the land is not thoroughly subdued — the soil is a 
mjass of woody fibre, composed of the roots of the prairie grass. It is re- 
duced by the harrow or pulverizer, but still it is loose and lumpy. It 
cannot be packed tightly about the roots. Air is admitted, and the work 
of destruction goes on. At least one crop of grain should be taken from 
the land, and it is better if you take off two or even three crops before 
planting many irees. 

THE NATURAL CONDITION 

of the soil has something to do with this. In some localities it is much 
tougher than in others, for instance, in southwestern Minnesota the land 
is as thoroughly subdued after one crop is removed, as it would be in the 
northwestern part of the State after two crops. Men must use their judg- 
ment in this matter, keeping it in mind that the better the condition of soil, 
the more economical and profitable will be their tree planting operations. 

After we have the ground prepared we must decide what to plant, and 
in answering the question we must not ask ourselves which is the most 
valuable timber or nut bearing tree, but must ask which is the most val- 
mable to us in our circumstances, because of its ease of propagation and 
consequent cheapness. 

It is a peculiar freak of nature that the most worthless timber is of the 
easiest propagation, the hardiest in its nature and of the most rapid 
growth. 

In this condition we find the cottonwood easy of propagation, hardy 
and rapid growing — but of poor texture, the timber of no commercial 
value — and yet for the poor man, planting a tree claim, the most valuable 
tree in the lifet— and placed at the head of the list for no other reason 
than because it is the only tree admitted on a tree claim that can be 
safely propagated both from cuttings and from seed. 

The seed ripens here in early June, and has been considered a difficult 
II 



l62 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

one to handle with success — but nature annually grows millions of seed- 
lings that can usually be 

PUKCHASED VERY CHEAPLY. 

I saw in October, thousands of seedlings growing on land broken the 
June preceding — self sown — three miles away from the trees producing 
the seed — and this on the tough, wiry -sod of Big Stone county. 

I have gathered seeds from the tree, planted them in a carefully pre- 
pared seed bed and not one germinated. I have scattered them care* 
lessly through a cultivated garden, making no attempt to cover them, 
and got thousands of fine seedlings the first year. Again, this plan has 
failed. 

It seems necessary, in the light of experiment, that the seed of the Cot- 
tonwood should be lightly covered — either by harrow or the washing of 
rain — which, followed by a few days of moist, humid atmosphere, seems 
to insure success. 

It seems most probable that if seeds of cottonwood are exposed to the 
sun for a week after sowing, and become thoroughly dried or sun baked, 
their vitality is destroyed. 

I have had the best luck sowing these seeds on the sandy shores of a 
lake and harrowing in. For all locations the best plan is to select a time 
for sowing just before a rain, and let the seeds take care of themselves. 

IF THE STOCK IS FRESH 

you have a good chance for success, no matter what the character of the 
soil. 

It may be well to state here that the seeds should be gathered just as 
the pods begin to open, and before heating must be spread in a dry place 
out of the wind, to open, when they may be sown. Cottonwood seed 
kept over winter is probably worthless. 

There are no known means of liberating the seed from its cotton cover- 
ing, and as it is very light, a still time must be selected in which to sow it. 
As usually measured, there are about 7,000 seeds to the bushel. 

In selecting cuttings, choose clean, two-year old wood, or strong, well- 
ripened one-year. Cut from eight to ten inches long and as near one-half 
inch in diameter as economical cutting will allow. Larger cuttings will 
root and do nearly as well, but are more expensive to transport and 
handle. 

Never cut them when frozen. If cut in autumn or during warm days in 
winter, pack in damp straw or sawdust until wanted. These will bear 
transportation long distances, even with careless packing. 

Plant at least eight inches deep, leaving from one to two inches of cut- 
ing above the surface of the ground. Plant in early spring as soon after 
the ground settles as possible. If the ground is mellow, or loose the cut- 
tings may be pushed down by hand, but it is probably economy to make 
a hole with a dibbler or bar, taking care to tread the earth firm around 
the cutting after planting, to effectually 

EXCLUDE THE AIR. 

This is important in all tree planting. The earth must be compacted 
around the roots, for just in proportion as it is left porous or open to 
admit air, just in that proportion you imperil the life of the tree. 

The safest and most satisfactory planting of forest trees is from seed- 
lings, and this applies not only to the cottonwood, but to all the decid- 
uous trees and evergreens. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS* MANUAL. 163 

It is bad policy to plant most kinds of tree seed on the ground where* 
the tree is to remain permanently. 

If you intend to propagate from seed, it is much better to grow the 
seedlings in a carefully prepared seed bed, and transplant to their perma- 
nent location when one, two or three years old, as the necessities of the 
case may require. 

Seedlings of oak, hickory, butternut and black walnut transplant so 
badly that it is better to plant seeds of these trees in permanent location. 

Next in order we will name the ash leaved maple, or box elder. It is a 
hardy, strong grower, the timber is heavier and better for all purposes 
than the cottonwood, and if it could be propagated by cuttings, would 
far out rank that tree as a valuable, economical tree for the frontier 
planter. 

IT MUST BE STARTED FROM SEED, 

which ripens in September, and if the ground is ready it may be planted 
in the fall, covering about an inch. It is easily preserved through the 
winter for spring planting, by selecting a dry place and scattering the 
saed on the ground to the depth of two inches and covering with old 
straw or leaves. 

This is a simple and safe method of keeping the seeds of ash, hard 
maple, acorns, and the seeds of all nut bearing trees. 

In planting or preserving all variety of tree seeds, it will be found a 
valuable rule to follow, to imitate the disposition that nature makes of 
them as closely as possible. 

The seedlings of box elder should not be allowed to grow more than 
two years in seed bed before transplanting, owing to their tendency to 
grow one strong tap root deep into the ground, making them difficult to 
dig or transplant. Box elder seed number about 10,000 to the measured 
bushel. 

THE SOFT MAPLE 

must have a place owing to the ease with which it can be grown from 
seed. The tree is a good one if we except its tendency to split down at 
the forks under heavy snow or wind. If looked after and head-in or 
pruned properly, it is a good safe tree, and is still popular with many, 
notwithstanding the frequent attempts to cry it down. The seed ripens 
in June, and should be planted soon after ripening, and will make a strong 
little tree from ten to fourteen inches the first season. It is the best soft 
seed to. plant in a permanent location, as it is a strong grower, and is ready 
to begin roughing it as soon as it appears above ground. The seed can- 
not be kept through the winter for spring planting —four weeks from 
time of ripening being about the time it can safely be preserved by any 
known means. There are about 6,000 seeds to the measured bushel ; and 
here let me say that in estimating the quantity of seed wanted for a given 
space by the number of seeds in a bushel, it is safe to allow fifty per cent, 
for bad seed and accident to the seed or seedling before it reaches its in- 
tended destination. 

THE WHITE ASH 

must be highly recommended, as it is one of the most valuable hard wood 
trees in this country. It is a rapid grower, perfectly hardy, and prefers 
low or flat low lands, though it will do well on any good soil. The only 
excuse for placing it so low on the list is that we are looking for trees for 
the frontier planter, who has but little means, and the seed of the ash is 



l64 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

.always scarce in this country, and very expensive, costing usually about 
five times as mucli as soft maple or box elder. The seedlings are conse- 
quently more expensive, which is unfortunate, as it ought to supplant all 
we have mentioned before it. The seed ripens in the latter part of Sep- 
tember, and must be treated the same as box elder. It has about 11,000 
seeds to the bushel. 

THE HARD OR SUGAR MAPLE 

is so well known, so beautiful, so valuable in every way, that it ought to 
have a place in every collection. Its slow growth is a very objectionable 
feature. It is grown from seed which ripens in October, and may be 
treated like box elder. . The seeds are small and usually sold by the pound. 
The elm is deservedly popular, and is easily grown from seed, which ripens 
in early June, and requires the same treatment as soft maple. Of the 
oaks and nut bearing trees, the difficulty in transporting fresh seed, and in 
transplanting and handling seedlings, will for the time being make them 
less popular than their mediocre competitors. Of these you must pro- 
cure fresh seed, and be sure that it reaches its destination without having 
become either heated or dried in transportation. Treat the same as rec- 
ommended for box elder, except that, owing to the depredations of mice 
and gophers, it is the safest not to plant until spring, and then plant 
where the trees are to be permanently located. The 

BALM OF GILEAD, 

Lombardy poplar, and the willows, though all easily grown from cuttings, 
yet are so entirely worthless for forest planting that they are noticed only 
to condemn them. The black locust is a good tree, but owing to its almost 
entire destruction by the borer in all the older sections of the country, I 
• would not recommend its general culture. It is not intended to slight 
the conifers by mentioning them last, but owing to the difficulty in grow- 
ing them from seed, the high price of seedlings, and the care required in 
handling; they are too expensive a luxury for the frontier, but valuable 
and worth all they cost. There is not a tree of the whole deciduous list 
equal to the Scotch pine for hardiness and adaptability to our soil and cli- 
mate. It is the most rapid grower of all the evergreens, of dense habit for 
windbreak or timber, its general planting should be encouraged in every 
way. It is the only lirst-class evergreen for our western prairies, all the 
others being most at home in wet lands, and more apt to be affected by our 
dry summers. 

TPIE AUSTRIAN PINE, 

white pine, Norway spruce, and arbor vitas should have a place in ornamen- 
tal planting, but for utility we had better stand by the Scotch pine. The 
European larch, though a eone-bearing tree, is not an evergreen. It is the 
most rapid growing conifer, outstripping the Scotch pine, and the wood is 
the most durable, excepting the red cedar. Like the Scotch pine, it is admi- 
rably adapted for dry, sandy locations, and will grow finely on soil too poor 
for any other valuable tree. The cone bearing trees are all propagated from 
seed, but it is a nice task in horticulture to succeed in growing the seedlings. 
The dilficalty is not in the germinating qualities of the seeds, for with the 
exceptions of the red and white cedars, all germinate freely. The critical 
time is when the little fine or spruce just begins its career when an inch 
high and before it has formed its second leaves. Then the least breath of 
unfavorable air, an hour's hot sun, or too dry or too humid an atmosphere 
for an hour, and it is all over with the infant monarch. In the language of the 
horticulturalist: it has damped off, and not a vgstige is left to prove that a 
seed was ever planted there, I have seen a bed of 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 165 

SCOTCH PINES 

all up nicely, their dark green covering the ground like a carpet, and in six 
hours not one left in ten thousand. The most approved plan is to surround 
the bed planted with seeds of evergreens, with common fence boards set on 
edge and nailed to the posts at the corners, leaving an air space of two inches 
under the board. Covering these with laths, leaving space equal to the 
width of the lath, runnfng and south, so as to change the light upon the 
plants, as the sun passes over. Water plentifully evenings during a dry 
time, and sprinkle occasionally with dry sand during a wet time, and if 
planted in a light, clean, rich soil, ten chances to one your evergreen seed- 
lings will pull through. It is imperative in handling evergreens, large or 
small, that the roots be kept shaded and damp while handling. The sap is a 
conifer is of a resinous nature, and when once dried, it is insoluble under the 
influence of the soil in which it is planted, hence, the tree is practically dead, 
as soon as 

THE ROOTS ARE DRIED. 

Twenty minutes' exposure of the roots to a hot sun is usually sufficient to 
destroy all hope of saving the tree. The European larch has been mentioned 
as one of the most valuable trees, but it is urged against it that it is difficult 
to transplant. The larch starts to grow at a very low temperature, or when 
it is too cold for any other tree to start to bud. Once started, and there is 
no use in attempting to transplant it, for it will surely die. Handled before 
it buds, and it is one of the easiest and safest to transplant. From this we 
must always remember to get our larch seedlings on hand early in spring, 
or what is better, procure them in the fall, heel them in, so as to plant as 
soon as the ground is open. 

In selecting a list of trees for prairie planting, we must name them, not in 
the order of real merit, but in .the order of economical availability, as best 
answering the purpose of the tree planter of limited means. We will place 
them: 1st, cotton wood ; 2Qd, box elder; 3rd, soft maple; 4th, white ash; 
5th, elm ; 6th, European larch. Of the evergreens, Scotch pine first and 
last. 

Now, on the other hand, if I was planting a forest for profit, and had 
plenty of means, I would not plant one cottonwood or maple. A ten acre 
plat should have two rows of Scotch pine all around it, immediately inside 
of these four rows of European larch. Now we have the plat surrounded 
by a windbreak of sturdy, rapid growing trees. Across one side plant in 
regular rows two acres of box elder, two feet apart each way, to be thinned 
out for fuel. This tree is planted in this quantity because it grows more 
rapidly than the other more valuable trees, and will furnish more fuel during 
early growth. If no fuel was needed, I would not plant this tree, but would 
plant half the space inside the larch with white ash, and the balance with 
oak, hickory, black walnut and butternut. 

Imagine a farm of 160 acres in a square, bounded upon the east, north and 
west by a double row of European larch, and inside of this a double row of 
Scotch pine, the rows eight feet apart, the four rows occupying twenty-four 
feet. Bound it on the south by a single row of European larch, sixteen feet 
apart. Locate the buildings on the south line in the center from east to 
west, and surround them upon the east, north and south at a comfortable 
distance with trees for utility. lu case of the smaller plat we located the 
• pines on the outside. This was for effect. The larch grows so much faster 
than the pine that it overtops it, and the dark green of the Scotch pine is 
relieved and contrasted ley the light green of the larch. In case of the line 



l66 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

around tlie 160 acres, the pines are planted inside tlie rows of European 
larch, because we want the best view of effect from inside the enclosure. 

We will suppose these trees well cared for for ten years. The larch stands 
thirty feet high, the pines twenty, and forest trees about the barn from ten 
to forty feet. You pass that farm, and through the open row of larch you 
get a grand view. Every man who passes that farm, respects the planter. 
To the inhabitants of this farm a blizzard has no terrors, and if all the farms 
were so well protected, that suggestive name for a storm would soon be for- 
gotten. You drive into that farm and it is like driving into a barn — ^you 
have a feeling of security and comfort, no matter how the storm may be 
raging. You find a comfortable fire from the wood cut on the farm, and you 
find farm stock enjoying sunshine and shelter. If you are there in harvest 
you will find the grain standing well, and probably when other farms are 
selling for ten dollars an acre, you will next hear that our friend has sold 
his for twenty-five dollars an acre, thus getting a profit on his planting 
besides the comfort it aff"orded him for ten years. Don't think yourself a 
philanthropist or public spirited in planting trees for your country's sake, 
but plant them understandingly for your own personal profit — plant them 
for the money that is in them, then you will get interested in your work, and 
do your country good without intending it. 

TREES ARE LANDMARKS 

in human life. Is there one of you but can remember every branch on some 
old oak or elm near your boyhood home — some tree that was your friend, 
the memory of which recalls a thousand incidents of childhood ? The poetry 
and songs of every people have expressed their love for trees. The arbors of 
the world have listened during all time to man's veneration for God's first 
temples. 

The Minnesota Forestry Association has done a good work, and to its 
working members are due the thanks of the whole northwest. Future gene- 
rations will thank them, and their names will live when the stripling trees 
they plant shall become gnarled monarchs of the forest. 



THmNING, TRIMMING AND PRUNING THE FOREST. 

To L. B. Hodges, Editor M. Forestry Manual: 

In discussing the various questions which will constantly be arising in this 
new field of our agricultural labors, we must all soon realize our great ignor- 
ance in regard to the best modes of procedure. No exception is ofi"ered by 
the topics now to be presented under the three separate heads, which it is 
proposed to consider in this chapter. ISow and when shall we thin out the 
trees of our artificial plantations or of our natural groves ? for there is no 
doubt they will soon be too thick, if all grow which we so thickly set into 
the fertile soil. ITow and when shall we be called upon to trim, and reduce 
the superfluous growth of the spreading trees, that must very soon intei'lock 
their branches to their mutual injury ? And again, how shall we proceed in 
the matter of Pruning, or lopping ofi" the great limbs which may after a- 
while interfere with the proper balance of the trees under our care ? 

These several questions have been presented, no doubt, to many minds 
among our tree-planters, and while some over anxious ones have already 
suggested plans for the treatment of the groves they have yet to plant, and 
will descant with great confidence upon the systematic methods they expect 
to pursue in the future, others, less confident in their knowledge a priori 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 167 

of what will be best to do in the premises, may feel somewhat appalled by 
an apprehension of coming difficulties. Those who have used their powers 
6f observation in the wild wood, and who have studied Nature's methods of 
procedure under like conditions, will have little concern as to the result, and 
may feel confidence that the exercise of common sense will enable them to 
solve all these riddles, as they may arise. 

Yes, study Nature. G-o to the natural thickets and observe the result of 
the planting of her prolific hand. See the crowded saplings of her sowing, 
with tall, straight, clean stems — watch them from year to year ; when they 
are of mixed sorts, see how soon those of most rapid growth will shoot up- 
wards and over-power the inferiors by spreading out their foliage to the sun 
and air, while their baleful shade makes quick work with the underlings, 
smothering and killing them, and thus thinning the grove. When the trees 
are naturally massed in groups of a single species, a similar result will be 
observed, for there will be some difference in their thriftiness and strength ; 
in this struggle for existence the survival of the fittest (strongest) will always 
be the result, the weaklings sicken and die out successively, and the process 
of thinning goes on, producing the desired result. The dead trees soon fall 
to the ground, retain the fallen leaves upon the surface and decaying with 
them increase the humus ; acting as a mulch, they check evaporation, retain 
the precipitated moisture, and in fact, make the best possible forest soil. 
Occasionally you may find that the trees thus thickly crowded together have 
been forced to make too great a growth upward, in proportion to the diame- 
ter of their* stems, which can only be developed in proportion to the spread 
of their tops. Nature will cure this too, but you may desire to aid nature, 
and now comes the opportunity to practice some of the beautiful theoretical 
^^systems''' that have been suggested. You may ''destroy alternate rows," 
utilizing them or not as may be desired. But even here it will be best to 
make a selection of the poorest, and there will always be some inferior plants 
in every row. Bat if the trees cannot be utilized profitably, it is better to 
leave them to the soil and to contribute toward bringing it into the most fa- 
vorable forestal condition. Even in that case, it may be better, and is cer- 
tainly cheaper, to lop off the tops of the supernumeraries by heading them 
in, with hatchet or billhook, which will so subordinate them to their un- 
mutilated fellows, that they will soon feel the effect of the over-shade, 
which causes them to dwindle and die. It is true that a young forest treated 
in this manner does not present a very attractive appearance, and cannot be 
put on parade before the average visitor; but this is just the way in which 
the best and choicest results have been attained both in Natural and in arti- 
ficial forests. It is a question of cost, of time and of timbei' — how most 
cheaply to produce the best result. The rule may be thus stated : never 
thin the trees while they are making a satisfactory growth upwards, and at 
the same time increasing annually in their diameter, so that the two direc- 
tions of growth maintain due proportions. 

Great care needs to be exercised to avoid thinning too rapidly, the process 
should be slowly progressive. The young saplings that have been crowded 
so as to effect a rapid increase of hight, will not bear exposure to the sun 
and air, by the sudden removal of continuous lines through the plantation ; 
the bark will be scalded, and the tops will lean across these openings, and, 
not unfrequently, bend quite down to the ground; the winds and snow-storms 
will also prove disastrous to the trees that are thus suddenly exposed to their 
influence. 

In thinning you should always remove the inferior plants ; in those plan- 
tations that are massed in groups of a single species, take out the sick and 



l68 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL, 

the crooked ones, and in mixed planting or in natural groups, the inferior 
kinds should be first removed, such as may have been planted as nurses or 
to fill up the spaces between those that are rarer and more expensive stock, 
and such kinds as arc prone to branch out low if they are allowed too "much 
room. For this purpose many bushes which have no timber value, are often 
introduced in making mixed plantations, to perform this nursing office to 
the more valuable timber trees that are intended, eventually, to occupy the 
soil ; in which case these nurses may be allowed to dwindle away as they 
becom3 overgrown by the permanent stand of useful kinds. In such a case, 
however, a sort of thinning may be necessary in the early years of the plan- 
tations, when the more rapid growth of the nurses may need curbing by 
cutting them back, lest they might overpower the slower advance of the val- 
uable kinds intended for the future forest trees. This has already been 
realized in the case of willows, used as nurses for oaks. In Germany the 
Scotch pine is often planted with the oaks, the latter set about thirty feet 
apart, and allowed to struggle along, with perhaps a little thinning' away of 
the pines near them until the pine crop is harvested, at the end of fifty or 
sixty years. The oaks then take possession for a century or so, and are 
allowed to form their umbrageous tops. It was observed, however, that in 
this method, while the oaks had tall straight shafts, they were apt to be too 
slender, and often suffered when exposed to the sun and wind after the re- 
moval of the pines, unless these were gradually cut away. In their early 
years, the oaks are sturdy stalwarts, and will endure a vast amount of sup- 
pression by other rapidly growing trees, during which, as when cut-back 
annually by fires on the borders of the prairies, they continue to form strong 
roots, and when the fires cease or the fast trees are removed from a planta- 
tion, the sturdy oaks spriag up and grow rapidly, soon forming a valuable 
forest. This peculiarity of the oaks, attaches also to the hickories, and per- 
haps to some other species, and after observing nature's methods of stocking 
the forests with these valuable kinds, that are too often neglected by 
impatient man, because of their comparatively slow progress during 
infancy, it has b3en suggested* to plant the nuts and acorns among the 
cheap trees, such as cottonwoods, willows, box-elder and water-maples, 
after they have got fairly started, or at any time during their progress, 
using every third or fourth row, and so soon as the firstlings of these 
attain useful size they may be cut out, and after the new comers are estab- 
lished, the adjoining rows, on either or both sides, must be taken down to 
give them room to develop the future forest, as space is needed by these 
more valuable trees ; this need not be done for some years, meanwhile the 
trees to be cut will have attained useful size. 

Do not be misled by promises of great profits from the early thinnings 
of your forest plantations ; to the farmer the possession of a grove close at hand 
will indeed be of inestiinible value for many purposes, and in the prairie 
country, in a very few years, the young trees will come into play as material 
for his fencing, for fuel, et cetera. If situated near a town or village where 
tree planting is encouraged, the groves may sometimes be thinned very prof- 
itably after the second year, to supply shade trees for the streets ; these 
bring good prices. 

Like my brethren tree-planters, however, it must be confessed that the 
longer this delightful occupation is pursued, and the more extensively it is 
practiced, the more do we find, and by so much the longer, that it is neces- 
sary for us to observe and to study, that we may approach perfection. There 
is always something still to learn. It is nDw iust half a century since the 

*Trans. Iowa Hort. Soc Vol. XIII, 1878, p. 300, article, Grotjpinig ik Plantations. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 169 

planting of trees for timber first engaged my attention in Ohio, and about 
the same time the management of natural woodlands was undertaken. The 
planting was not extensive, but has yielded satisfactory results, and the 
management, which covered a considerable area, perhaps nearly a half -section 
of old and young timber, was the scene of many blunders, some of which 
were expensive and some were errors fatal beyond redemption, but the pres- 
ent annual increased value of that tract is estimated at 6 per cent., while, 
in some portions, the timber is beautiful and annually ripening for the axe. 

Within the last quarter century forestry has been pursued upon another 
tract, very differently situated, and largely consisting of the natural growth 
of the locust, upon old fields, much worn by tenant-farming during the past 
forty years. Thinning and trimming has here been practiced, but chiefly for 
the sake of removing the dead and decaying resiilts of natural causes, which 
had already reduced the stand of trees sufficiently for the well-being of those 
which remained. 

Within the last ten years, only, have any continuous efforts been made to 
reproduce the forests by artificial planting of seeds and trees of various 
kinds ; these have been more or less satisfactorily adapted to the situation 
selected for them. Errors many have here been committed, it is true, and 
perhaps it is yet too soon to have discovered them all, nor would it be cog- 
nate to the subject just now in hand to detail them. This episode should be 
apologized for as a piece of egotism, and is only to be excused as being the 
field from which have been drawn, in great degree, the. facts upon which are 
based the principles on which are founded the postulates above given in 
respect to the thinning of forest plantations. 

TRIMMING. 

On the subject of trimming little need be said beyond an explanation of 
why it is ever done, and why so little needs to' be done. The object of trim- 
ming is especially to form the future tree, chiefly by directing its growth 
into the desired channel to produce that effect. Trees vary remarkably in 
their natural habit or style of growth in branching, some are naturally up- 
right, with one main leader, and these form beautiful conical trees when 
growing singly — beautiful on the lawn ; th?.y also form beautiful shafts when 
the crowding of dense forests has trimmed them with nature's shears, saws 
and axes, so quietly, so gradually and so silently that no one has ever heard 
the axes lifted up against the thick trees. Others with very difterent habit, 
have a proneness to form side branches and double or multiple leaders, that 
often require human interference, even when subjected to the close planting 
which our prairie foresters have so wisely adopted, even in the teeth of the 
wide planting encouraged, or at least permitted, by act of congress. These 
last may frequently require trimming, and this is readily done by slashing off 
or shortening-in the superfluous leaders and the straggling branches which, 
when thus snubbed, will soon succumb to natural causes. It is wholly un- 
necessary to cut off neatly all or any of the side branches, like a nursery 
grown plant that is being prepared for the street, where, as the observed of 
all observers, it would be exposed to finical criticism, and where, for its own 
safety, it should have been carefully schooled, not only for the sake of ap- 
pearances, but also to prepare and harden it for the rude buffetings of the 
world to which it will be exposed. We are now considering the young for- 
est trees, in close companionship, and secluded from the public gaze and from 
unfriendly criticism. These need the nourishment of every leaf, upon every 
twig, that can reach the pasture of the air about them, so that strength for 
future greatness may be stored up in their stocks and widely spread roots. 



lyo FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

This shorteDing to check erratic growth should be done chiefly during the 
summer. 

There is a kind of treatment sometimes advisable for young trees that 
may properly be considered a sort of trimming. This consists of cutting 
them down close to the ground. Some persons prefer to cut certain kinds 
before planting, setting out the little stumps, and in som§ species this has 
proved more successful than leaving the tops; indeed, some planters never 
set out a tulip tree without first miitilating it in this way. For most trees, 
however, it is best to defer the operation until the early spring of the next 
or even the second season after planting, according to the growth tliey have 
made. This treatment is especially applicable to slow or indiflierent growers, 
and to such as are prone to form crooked and low-branching stocks. The 
object sought by this decapitation of the little trees, is to secure a vigorous, 
upright, straight and clear stem the first season. If more than one shoot 
appear, the sujiernumeraries must be rixbbed out. This treatment has often 
been found to insure mote growth in one summer than has been made 
during many years, in trees that had become stunted and bark-bound and 
unthrifty from whatever cause. The removal, or subordinating of an extra 
leader, should always be done as soon as observed, summer or winter, by 
cutting back, by bending aside, or by twisting the weaker one so as to direct 
the current of sap, and for this purpose it may be desirable to force the re- 
remaining shoot, if inclined to one side, and secure it in a vertical position. 
In the winter, however, it is much easier, and equally efficacious, to cut back 
the top shoot to a healthy bud on the upper side, from which a strong up- 
right leader will be produced the next season. 

Nothing has been said in reference to trimming ofi" the side shoots except 
incidentally, and every one must have observed, or will soon observe, the 
happy effect resulting from the close planting now so virgently advised and so 
generally practiced by all intelligent tree-planters, 

PRUNING. 

We now come to take a hasty glance at the last topic of our triplet of 
forest surgery. Pruning should not be confounded with Trimming. The 
former is a "capital operation," resulting in the removal of great parts that 
have been allowed to remain already too long where they are not wanted, or 
those which have been mutilated by injury and now disfigure the tree. 

Hence it will appear that in any forest plantation which has been well 
managed, extensive pruning will seldom be required ; never as a formative 
and training process, like Trimming, but only called into requisition, like the 
surgeon's art, as a curative agency. 

Much skill and care is requisite as to the manner of doing the work, the 
season at which it may best be performed, and the treatment, or materials 
which should be applied to the wounds inflicted, after the diagnosis has been 
determined, and the removal is decided upon. Pruning is not appli- 
cable during the infancy of trees, rarely in their adolescence, except where 
the subject stands singly or in a scattered group, but more frequently it is 
applicable to older and more mature trees. Just here may be seen the supe- 
riority of German forestry over that of other countries, for there pruning is 
anticipated by judicious trimming and management. 

A small section of young oaks, of some thirty years' growth, was seen in 
the forest attached to Windsor Castle, the favorite royal residence of Eng- 
land's queen, in which moi-e heavy pruning had been done than had been 
seen in traversing and inspecting thousands of acres in Germany, in Bohe- 
mia, famous for its woods, and in other provinces of Austria, on which the 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. I/I 

game oaks largely prevailed. It is admitted that this species, the peduncu- 
lata, has a spreading habit and is prone to branch low ; it must also be re- 
membered that the foresters of England have for centuries been accustomed 
to take advantage of this form of the tree, great volumes having been writ- 
ten full of instructions directing how to increase this branching habit, in 
order to produce the curved masses of timber needed for her naval construc- 
tions, before iron had so nearly driven wood from her navy — so that even 
within thirty or forty years, the oaks referred to may have been planted 
widely and trained with a view to the production of ship-timbers. The point 
of particular interest, in this case, however, was the admirable manner in 
which the forest manager, Mr. Menzies, had done his work — the surgery was 
perfect — it had been most scientifically, judiciously and seasonably performed, 
the wounds were healing over i-apidly, though, of course, they never united 
by "Jirst intention,'''' still, the cut surfaces were in a fair way to be safely 
"sequestered''^ without decay by the newly formed alburnum, which showed 
the perfection of wood-surgery. 

Pardon the technicalities of the profession, but the enthusiasm of former 
days, when engaged to some extent in the mutilation J'or repair of human 
subjects, was so thoroughly aroused by observing this capital work of Mr. 
Menzie's upon the Queen's own oaks, that even the recollection now 
excites a thrill of professional admiration, which can only be calmed by ex- 
pression in words. 

Great care should be exercised in the manner of performing the work, and 
much consideration should be bestowed upon the season best fitted for prun- 
ing. The object being the removal of parts in such a manner as to avoid 
injury, and to prevent the decay from the exposed surface extending to the 
bole of the tree and the destruction of the timber. The mature wood of a 
tree, though sound and called healthy, can scarcely be called a living tissue, 
has no powers of reproduction, and may be considered rather as a skeleton 
of the organism, the living parts of which are confined to the outer portions 
of the wood, and the inner layers of the bark — and of these the very last 
are the formative tissues, while the truly vital organs are the buds at the 
extremities of the twigs and branches. Though there are dormant buds, ca- 
pable of producing living shoots, that have long remained inactive, but which 
may be aroused to activity, when needed, and which spring into life even 
from the stumps of old trees of some species, while other trees have the 
power of forming adventitious buds, even upon their roots under ground, 
whence come numerous suckers, as in some poplars and other species, and 
these are capable of forming trees with an independent existence, still it is 
the visible terminal buds on the previous years' growth that constitute the 
true points of vitality in the normal condition of the tree. It is to the 
healthy activity of these, and the shoots which annually proceed from them, 
that we must look for all increase of woody fiber, and for all deposits of new 
material to repair the damage done by pruning, which necessarily exposes 
more or less of the perfected woody tissue, that is itself considered dead 
matter, with no power of reparation. 

Hence the importance of so arranging the direction of the saw in cutting 
off great limbs, that the stumps shall be left in the best possible shape for 
receiving the new deposits destined to shield the exposed tissues from the 
action of the atmosphere that would induce decay. 

"With this object in view the cut should be made with the saw, as smoothly 
as possible, and the section should rarely be in a line or plane pai-allel to the 
axis of the stem — but inclining away from the stem from the point of 
insertion above. The cut of an axe is smoother, but can rarely be made in 



172 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

this manner, even when practiced from belov?, and even then it is apt to 
make a ragged, tearing wound at the upper side, just where the depo3it of 
new wood should be begun, and where it is usually most abundant — follow- 
ing round the wound at its margins. The axe is a very inferior tool for 
pruning, and should be discarded for a sharp saw, though in some hands the 
axe may be used for the first cut ; this is to be made one, two or three feet 
out the limb to be removed, and even then care should be taken to cut well 
under, so that the falling limb cannot tear away portions of the stump. The 
same care should be taken in using the saw exclusively; and in all limbs of 
considerable size two cuts should be practiced, to avoid the strain of the 
leverage of the outwai'd portions. 

It is a good plan to start the sawing of the inner cut first, so as to take 
advantage of this leverage, but arrest it so soon as the cut begins to gape, 
and before it can split and tear, then insert the tool a foot^or more beyond, 
or from the stem, and rapidly cut ofi" the outer portion. The stump of the 
reduced limb is then easily managed, and should be carefully supported while 
the section is completed. The wound may now be smoothly pared with knife 
or chisel, especially all round the bark, and the deposit of cambium has lit- 
tle to interfere with it. 

It is well now to make some application to protect the wood from the ele- 
ments : a coating of paint will answer — even whitewash, or a more elegant 
application of shellac, put on with a brush. Forsyth, who wrote a book on 
pruning, stronglv recommended a poultice of cow manure and clay tempered 
together; this has long been supplanted by the use of grafting wax, and in our 
time coal tar is often used as a good protective, though rather too much of 
an irritant to the highly organized cells of the reparative cambium layer, 
which is to heal the wound. 

Projecting stumps and snags, whether the result of careless lopping or 
natural fractures by winds or snows, or by felling other trees, should never 
be left ; they are not merely blemishes, but serious iuj uries to the tree ; they 
can never be healed over by deposit, and the decay set up in them will ex- 
tend to the valuable portions of the timber in the stem. 

The Season for pruning is a matter demanding careful consideration. The 
two periods most highly recommended are those of perfect rest, late in the 
autumn, and of high activity of the wood-producing process, or at midsum- 
mer, when the shoots of the current season have been completed, and have 
formed their terminal buds, because at this time the transformation of cam- 
bium cells into those of the woody fibre is in its greatest activity, and the 
process of healing will at once begin. 

The season of rest that is often recommended, for heavy pruning, is con- 
fined to fine, dry autumn weather and to the approach of winter, when the 
tissues rapidly dry up for a short distance and become case-hardened, to re- 
sist the wet. The winter and spring should be avoided in performing this 
work. No cutting should ever be practiced when the tissues are frozen, un- 
less, indeed, it be hacking the growth of a willow — prairie or swamp, which 
is then more eflectualjy killed than at any other period of the year, and also 
more easily approached upon the ice. Nor should we attempt to cut ofi" a 
limb in the early spring while the sap is in active flow and of a thin and 
watery consistency. It then overflows from the wood and gives the tree a 
most unsightly appearance, besides wasting the natural forces and substance 
of growth ; the wood exposed under these conditions is prone to rapid decay, 
and the healing process is hindered, or often entirely prevented. Wait until 
the sap has changed its character, and is full of reparative material, as above 
suggested. 



FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 173 

As one of the good results of the great world's Expositions, you will per- 
mit a reference to the great amount of valuable literature connected with 
the industrial arts which accompanies the exhibitions of the results of those 
industries, as was particularly manifest at the World Fairs at Vienna and 
Paris. Brochures connected with all departments of Forestry, and illus- 
trating methods and practices, were numerous and highly instructive. On 
the table beside me is one of a collection received from the last Paris Fair, 
held at the Trocadero, and written by Mr. A. Martinet, an inspector of. the 
French forests, which treats especially upon this branch of the subject, 
Pruning of Trees. Would that the illustrations alone could be placed before 
you to show the effects of good and bad pruning. Of the latter, however, 
we have no lack in every part of the country where trees of any consider- 
able size can be found, either wild or cultivated — for the lopping of the ax, 
rivals in the damage effected the invasions of storms or other accidents. In 
a well conducted system of Forestry, such as we hope to see grow up under 
the fostering care of the government at the National Forest-School of the 
future, and carried out by the intelligence of educated American Foresters, 
we shall one day see among us plantations so well managed as to produce 
the best results, and to need the least possible amount of pruning. 

One of yourselves, thoroughly devoted to tkis great branch of agriculture, 
and fully convinced of the necessity of its early and extensive introduction 
upon the wide region of the western plains, has well said: "the American 
people can do almost anything if we will but show them how and get them 
interested in the doing of it. " Men who cannot be interested in tree-plant- 
ing by those who are so practiced, so devoted, and so enthusiastic in the pur- 
suit as Leonard B. Hodges, and his co-adjutors, do not deserve a portion of 
the fertile soil of Minnesota. 

Yes ! he and others "are doing it," — they are teaching the people how to 
begin this great work, and in their efforts in the cause, they are also knock- 
ing at the doors of Congress for aid to educate us all toward greater perfection 
in the work. Their enthusiasm is reflected even from Ohio, as is manifested 
in this feeble effort on behalf of Forestry ; though but a mite, a mere atom 
thrown into the swelling cumulus upon which is, one day, to be erected the 
great structure of an enlightened, American Forestry. 

Your success in the efforts you are making, and the success of your worthy 
leaders, who are doing so much for you and for your State, ay6, and for tha 
Nation, meet the warmest sympathy in the bosom of your absent friend. 

JOHN" A. WARDER. 
North Bend, Ohio, March 31, 1880. 



To My Readers : 

In preparing this second edition of the Manual, I have thrown 
out some seventeen pages from the old edition, and in their room 
have placed the valuable contributions of Dr. John A. Warder 
and U. S. Hollister. 

Much original matter, the individual experiences of practical 
men who have succeeded in growing timber on our great prairies, 
has necessarily been omitted from this edition. Reason: want of 
funds. Whenever the people of Minnesota, through their ser- 



174 FOREST TREE PLANTERS' MANUAL. 

vants, the Legislature, appropriate the necessary amount, this 
valuable experience will be published for their benefit. 

With the most rigid economy, bordering on meanness, this 
State Forestry Association of Minnesota has managed its affairs 
in such a way as to keep within its means and pay all its bills, 
without asking the passage of any deficiency bill. 

We now issue a second edition of the Manual of 6,225 copies, 
which virtually exhausts our exchequer. 

This edition will be sent free to all men trying to make homes- 
on our prairies, but they must send six cents in money or stamps 
to prepay postage on each copy. 

It seems a small thing, and in fact it is small for the great pros- 
perous State of Minnesota to get down to this. I presume the 
next Legislature will do something to remedy it. I have received 
a very large number of postah and letters asking for the Manual, 
in which no stamps or money" for postage was enclosed, and from 
my own pocket have paid a heap of -postage. The postage and 
stationary cost as much as the book. In other words, this edition 
of the Manual costs $650.00. If we had paid the postage on the 
first edition, which is already distributed all over Minnesota, we 
would have been unable to publish this second edition. 

This explanation seems due to hundreds who have written for 
the Manual and neglected to send postage, and still wonder why 
they don't receive either the Manual or an answer of some kind. 

The first year of our existence as an Association, I had to 
answer about four hundred letters on the subject of forestry. 
This year, this sort of correspondence has run up to four hundred 
letters in a single month. Were it not for the Manual, I could 
not answer half of them. I mention this to show the rapidly in- 
creasing interest in forestry in Minnesota. It is encouraging. 

To the great number who have voluntarily tendered me their 
very appreciative opinions of the Manual, I tender my thanks. 

That it so far fills the bill, and is received with satisfaction, and 
studied eagerly by those for whom it was prepared, is to me a 
great reward. 

But we must all keep whacking away at this good work, so that 
when the time comes for us to "lay down the shovel and the 
hoe," we can know to a dead cbrtainty, that we have done our 
part toward making this section of God's footstool better than we 
found it. 

St. Paul, Minn., March 31, 1880. Leonard B. Hodges. 



IN'DEX:. 



Preface 3 

Preparation of the soil 5 

Time to break prairie 5 

Manner of breaking prairie 5 

Clean culture necessary 5 

Proper treatment of cold, sour, level prairie 6 

Its great value when regenerated, and its adaptability to trees, wheat, grasses 

and other crops 6 

Manner of planting 6 

Proper distribution of trees when planted 7 

Close planting 7 

Development of grub-prairie into forest 7 

Nature's method of planting 8 

Objects of tree planting 8 

Varieties of trees suitable for forest culture in Minnesota 9 

Varieties of trees suitable for planting along highways 9 

The elm 10-25-26 

The black walnut 11-23 

The butternut 11 

The sugar maple 11 

The Cottonwood 12-24 

Basswood 12 

White ash 12 

Black ash • 12 

How to plant them 13 

Notes on the Big Woods, by Prof. N. H. Winchell 15 

Natural adaptability of the tree to its location 17 

The great coniferous district, by J. A. Wheelock 18 

Dr. Hough's report on forestry 19 

Shelter-belts or wind breaks, by Judge C. E. Whiting 20 

Varieties of trees for shelter-belts 20 

Cuttings — how to prepare and plant them 20 

Evergreens for shelter-belts 21 

Plantations for fuel, farm purposes, and manufacturing purposes 22 

Honey locust 22 

Black cherry 23 

European larch 23 

White and Scotch pines 25 

The catapalta 25 

Maples 26-27 

Hackberry 27 

Red Mulberry 27 

Yellow birch 27 

Large aspen 27 

White poplar 28 

Wild red cherry 28 

White willow 28-33-34-35 

The propagation of trees from cuttings 30 

The ash and the larch ■' 36 

Larch plantation of the Duke of Athol 37 

Planting of the ask ^'^ 

The oak 41 

Oblique planting 44 

Plantation of evergreens 45 

Evergreen planting i 46 

Evergreen seedlings 47 

Propagation of evergreens 48 

Management of the pine tribe 49 

A plea for the evergreen, by Jno. K. Kepner 52 

The planting of J. H. Brown, of Lac qui Parle 58 

The beech °4 

The chestn\it o5 



176 INDEX. 

The soft maple 65 

The box elder 68 

Prof. W. H. Brewer 66 

Prof. Newberry 67 

Sowing and planting 67 

Should we sow or plant? , 67 

Experience of European foresters 67 

Condition most favorable to the growing of forest seeds 69 

Gathering of forest tree seeds 70 

Methods of planting forest tree seeds 72 

Economical mode of preserving acorns through winter 71 

Shelter to young trees in nurseries 74 

Number of trees to the acre 74 

Plantation of different species 75 

Relative value of growth at different ages 76 

Growth of wood in different years 76 

Advice of Horace Greeley on tree planting 76 

Evelyn on preparations for tree planting 77 

Practical view of the timber question, by Hon. C E. Whiting 78 

Tree planting in Massachusetts, by Emerson 79 

Profits of tree planting, by O. B Galusha 80 

Rules for evergreen culture, by E. Farrand 81 

Method of cultivation by the winner of a prize 82 

Timber growing and planting in Nebraska 83 

Close planting of Cottonwood, by C. E. Whiting 84 

Thinning of plantations , 84 

Means of destruction of insects infesting trees 86 

Protection to nurseries 88 

Shelter for fruit trees, by Dr. J. A. Warder 88 

Timber belts for farm protection, by W. Marlatt 90 

Timber belts for farm protection, by H. M. Thompson , 92 

Timber belts for farm protection, by Prof. H. H. McAffee 92 

Need of wind breaks for the protection of human life 93 

Screens of wood land as a barrier to insects 94 

Instruction in forest culture 94 

Experience of D. C. Scofield in tree planting 97 

Experience of tree culture in Illinois 99 

Comparative value of woods for fuel 100 

Experiments in tree planting, by Jos. S. Fay 101 

Suitable trees for shelter belts 105 

Experience of Illinois Industrial University in tree planting 105 

Causes of failure in evergreens 105 

Constitution of Minnesota State Forestry Association 106 

Arbor Day in Minnesota 107 

Advice of Col. J. H. Stevens on tree planting 109 

Tree planting in Kansas 109 

The Congressional Timber Culture Act, with instructions, rules, regula- 
tions, etc 110 

Pruning and thinning 116 

Mountain forest, and the water supply of the Continent: an open letter from 

Dr. Warder to Carl Schurz 117 

Annual Meeting of Minnesota State Forestry Association 120 

Address of Ignatius Donnelly ]20 

Address of Prof. Lacy to Minnesota State Forestry Association 123 

Extracts from an essfiy read at the annual meeting of the State Agricultural 

Society at the State University, February 5, 1875, by Leonard B. Hodges. 128 

Timber area of various counties in Minnesota 129 

Teaching of many years' experience in forest culture, by W. S. Brockman. . . 135 

Forestry in Minnesota (L. B. Hodges) 136 

Number of trees on an acre (tabulated at various distances apart) 144 

Relation of forests to water supply, by Prof. Lacy 145 

Aid to grasshopper sufferers 154 

System of timber culture 155 

The United States land laws 157 

Tree planting, by U. S. Hollister 159 

Thinning, trimming and pruning the forest, by Dr. J. A. Warder r 16S 





^K 



THE 




5t^ 




FOREST TREE PLANTERS' 



ni A-- 





EMBODYING SUCH INSTRUCTIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR 
TREE PLANTING AND CULTIVATION AS EXPERIENCE 
AND OBSERVATION HAVE DEMONSTRATED TO 
BE USEFUL AND RELIABLE "— Fw/« 

JResolvMon of Ex. Conimittee. 



SECOND EDITION OF 6,000 COPIES, REVISED AND CORRECTED. 



By LEONARD B. HODGES. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



MINNESOTA STATE FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 




m 




ST PAUL, MINN. 

H. M. SMYTH & CO , BOOK AND JOB PRtNTEKS. 
1880. 



^^ 



m 



. St. Paul, Mioneapolis & Manitoba 

RAILWAY COMPANY 

Offer for sale, at very low prices, and on easy terms of 
payment, nearly 

3,000.000 ACRES 

OF THE MOST FERTILE LANDS IN AMERICA, 

ALL IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA, 

And mostly in the far famed 

RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH, 

The G-reat Wheat G-arden of the World. 



TO ACTUAL rSETTLERS IN THE EED EIVEE VALLEY, 

A REBATE OF NEARLY ONE-HALF THE PURCHASE 

MONEY IS ALLOWED ON ALL LANDS 

BROUGHT UNDER CULTIVATION. 

For further information, apply to 

D. A. McKINLAY, 

L ind Commissioner, St. P., M. & M. R'y, 
ST. PAUL, MINN. 



R. DOUGLAS & SONS, 

Waukegan Nurseries, 

T\^ATJJKEG^ATV, ILL. 

Most Extensive Growers of 

EUROPEAN LARCH 



IN AMERICA. 

Importers of and Dealers in 



Larch and E7ergreeii Tree Seeds, &c., &c. 



Send for Catalogue. 



• NURSERY GROWN 

Small Sizes of 

SCOTCH, AUSTRIAN, MOUNTAIN AND PITCH PINE, < 
Suitable for Nursery Row, Ornament and Sheuer Belts. 

EUROPE A.N LARCH, WHITE ASH, BLACK WALNUT, BOX 
ELDER, SILVER AND SUGAR MAPLES, &c., 
For Forest Planting, and 
HARDY HEDGE PLA.NTS, by the 100, 1,000 or 10,000. 

TREE SEEDS by the oz., lb. or 100 lbs. 

Catalagues free on application. Address 

H. M. THOMPSON & SON, 

ST. FRAN0I8, MILWAUKEE CO., WIS. 



TAKE NOTICE. 



While this pamphlet is published for gratuitous circulation, yet 
as no provision has been made for its distribution, we shall for a 
while be compelled to rely on the generous nature of those for 
whom they are intended to enclose with order sufficient postage 
stamps to pay for distribution through the mails — six cents per 
copy. 

For copies of the Manual, address 

L. B. HODG-ES, 

SAINT PAUL. 



DeGRAFF ^; 



1 

ON MAIN LINE ST. PAUL, MINNEAPOLIS & MANITOBA R. R. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY- FIVE MILES WEST OF 

ST PAUL. 



• 

Forest Trees — all kinds best suited to planting on the prairie, 
grown here by the miUion and for the million — will be distributed 
promptly at all points along the line of the St. Paul, Minneapolis 
&' Manitoba Railroad, at live and let live rates, on receipt of 
orders from responsible parties, C. O. D. "Parties to me person- 
ally unknown are expected to accompany their order with cash 
or satisfactory references. - 

LEONARD B. HODGES. 



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